Sheffield Doc/Fest: Films A-Z

The Miners' Hymns

Director(s):

Bill Morrison

Producer(s):

David Metcalfe
- United Kingdom
- 2011
- 52 min
- HDCAM 1080/23.98p
- Silent

The helicopter hovers, lingeringly, over a nondescript slash of suburban Britain – a giant Asda. This was once the site of the Ryhope Colliery, the industrial epicentre of the region for more than 70 years. In this haunting, creative collaboration, original music is combined with a rich array of archive to depict the ill-fated mining community in North East England. Acclaimed Icelandic musician and composer Jóhann Jóhannsson’s score draws upon the region’s brass music and moves from dark and brooding minimalism to moments of rousing transcendence. American experimental filmmaker Bill Morrison pieces together a collage of archive spanning 100 years - from early grainy footage of primitive conditions, through processes of increased mechanization, and up to the pitched battles with police during the 1984 strike as Thatcher's government sounded the death knell for the industry. A haunting, beautiful elegy to a bygone era.