FORSYTH Hardy, the journalist who campaigned tirelessly to promote the

Scottish film community, has died at the age of 84.

He was a co-founder of the Edinburgh International Film Festival in

1947, and served as the first director of the Films of Scotland

Committee for two decades from 1955, and as the first secretary of the

Scottish Film Production Fund from 1975.

Mr Hardy, who lived in Edinburgh, assisted such international film

luminaries as John Grierson, the Scottish documentary maker, and English

film director Michael Powell.

In his time at the Films of Scotland Committee, he was responsible for

the production and distribution of 140 films on a wide range of Scottish

themes, which were seen by millions of people throughout the world.

Most notable was Mr Hardy's role in overseeing Grierson's Seawards The

Great Ships, a documentary made on Clydeside in 1961, which remains the

only Scottish film ever to win an Oscar.

Born in West Lothian, he initially served as an office bearer with the

Edinburgh Film Guild, the Federation of Scottish Film Societies, and the

Scottish Film Council.

He became The Scotsman newspaper's first film critic in 1932.

Mr Hardy's many books included two on Grierson, and Scotland On Film,

which was published in 1990 after he celebrated his 80th birthday.