Mining Berwick’s Archive
Mining Berwick’s Archive
- THE BLACKHILL CAMPAIGN (1963) film (NEFA 13609) preserved and digitised by North East Film Archive
- THE BLACKHILL CAMPAIGN (1963) film (NEFA 13609) preserved and digitised by North East Film Archive
- THE BLACKHILL CAMPAIGN (1963) film (NEFA 13609) preserved and digitised by North East Film Archive
- THE BLACKHILL CAMPAIGN (1963) film (NEFA 13609) preserved and digitised by North East Film Archive
- THE BLACKHILL CAMPAIGN (1963) film (NEFA 13609) preserved and digitised by North East Film Archive
- THE BLACKHILL CAMPAIGN (1963) film (NEFA 13609) preserved and digitised by North East Film Archive
- Credit: Amelia Read • 19th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival • 2024
Saturday 14 September 2024
11:00 – 12:30
The Council Chamber, Berwick Town Hall, Marygate, TD15 1BN
For this years’ Heritage Open Days, The Burr of Berwick will be presenting the essential Northumberland mining film, The Blackhill Campaign, in Berwick’s historic Town Hall.
Before the film we will take a moment to reflect together on what this film captures, using 16mm film – considering personally our own connections (real and imagined) to the photography and picture it created.
The screening will be followed by an opportunity to join artist Kate Liston in a simple writing activity to share our thoughts and reflections.
The Blackhill Campaign is a 55 minute documentary film that follows the campaign organised by the miners and citizens of the villages of Blackhill and Scremerston in Northumberland to fight the National Coal Board’s decision to close the Blackhill Colliery. Following their defeat the film then follows them in their efforts to open a private drift mine at Allerdean.
Join us to collectively watch this important socially historical film made in 1963 with organisations: The British Film Institute Experimental Fund, Derrick Knight and Partners, The BBC (London and Newcastle), Tyne Tees Television, The Shell Film Unit, The Berwick Advertiser.
With thanks to North East Film Archives for providing the film.
The Burr of Berwick
The Burr of Berwick was launched at the 2024 Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival as a social space with a film library, conversations and screenings, The Burr is now a roving social space for film and discussions.
In each event we’ll gather together to explore different topics relevant to Berwick and our local area. We invite you to watch films and explore and bring up topics that matter to you.
Named after ‘The Burr’ the distinctive uvular pronunciation of R in the traditional dialects of Northumberland – not typical of other English dialects, the pronunciation is an innovation in the northeast of England and connected with the spread of guttural R throughout much of Western Europe.
Aside from our year-round events, the annual Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival will be 27-30 March 2025
Kate Liston
Kate Liston is an artist based in Gateshead with a practice spanning drawing, moving image, installation and writing. Her work responds to research based on sites, locations and their histories. While the subjects she engages with varies, she is overall interested in under-recognised forms of creativity that might have been historically dismissed due to class, gender or cultural hierarchies.