We are thrilled to announce that the 2024 Audience Award is presented to Strike: An Uncivil War directed by Daniel Gordon (UK), produced by Nick Taussig and Fjolla Iberhysaj. Archive Producer was Stephen Slater, and Cinematography was by Michael Timney.
The film had its World Premiere at the 31st edition of Sheffield DocFest on 16 June 2024. Director Daniel Gordon and contributors Morag Livingstone, Ian Mitchell, Jim Tierney and Jon McClure were in attendance for a special post-screening conversation.
Strike: An Uncivil War tells the story of the most violent confrontation between miners and police during the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike in Great Britain — The Battle of Orgreave. Nationwide preview screenings will play on 18 June marking the 40th anniversary of the events at Orgreave, before a general theatrical release on 21 June.
Each feature film premiering in the six-day programme was eligible for this award, and festival-goers voted in the thousands for their favourite films.
Our Creative Director Raul Niño Zambrano and Managing Director Annabel Grundy said: “We have been overawed by how much audiences have been deeply engaged with films at Sheffield DocFest this year, and this is especially true of Daniel Gordon's Strike: An Uncivil War.
Daniel Gordon's searing film unpacks what really happened on 18 June 1984, and the use of first-hand narratives perfectly demonstrates how documentary can be used to give voice to those who have been overlooked, as well as how it can continue to inform and inspire discussion around present-day events.
The world premiere at The Crucible Theatre, which included a brass band and the presence of several of the miners, was extremely moving and we are so proud the filmmaking team chose us as the place to present this crucial piece of history."
Daniel Gordon said: ”Strike: An Uncivil War took about ten years in the making. It’s a self-funded film and it took an awful lot of passion and commitment from everybody involved, both people who are in the film and behind the camera. Screening it at Sheffield Crucible, with many of the community affected, and knowing its powerful message resonates with audiences is the perfect way to launch the film ahead of its UK-wide rollout."
The film focuses on the year-long Miners’ Strike of 1984/85 — the most violent and divisive industrial dispute that Britain has ever witnessed. It pays particular focus to the Battle of Orgreave, which took place on 18th June 1984, the bloodiest day of the Strike. The media subsequently appeared to lay blame for the violence at the feet of the strikers. Daniel Gordon’s comprehensive documentary doesn’t just overturn this fabrication, it portrays what took place as planned action on the part of the Thatcher government, with the Prime Minister determined to seek redress for the National Union of Mineworkers victory over the Conservative government in the early 1970s and to forever break the union’s role at the heart of British working-class society.
Featuring powerful personal testimony, previously hidden government documents and never-before seen archive material, the film shows first-hand the stories and recollections of the people on the front lines of this incredible moment in time, which split communities and the nation in two, and whose ripples still resonate to this very day.
Special event previews nationwide on Tuesday 18 June – the 40th anniversary of The Battle of Orgreave – feature an exclusive Q&A with the film’s director Daniel Gordon, Chris Peace and Kate Flannery of the Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign, and former miners Kevin Horne and Ian Mitchell. The film will be released in cinemas on Friday 21 June by Tull Stories, in partnership with VeryMuchSo and Embankment Films.
You can find where to watch the film here.
