Amber Films Movies

A richly lyrical documentary celebration of the vibrant beach life in the North East of England, constructed entirely out of Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen's black & white photographs.

Like many women active during the miners' strike, May Murton (Charlie Hardwick) has been left to clean up the mess. The closure of the pit, a failed marriage and the community’s disintegration have shattered both her personal and political beliefs. Her teenag...

A feature drama set in the declining fishing industry in North Shields, the film centres on the upheaval caused in a traditional fishing community by the unexpected arrival of a young woman.

The last pits have closed, the redundancy money has been spent and a family is in crisis. 70 year old pigeon man Arthur Elliott is losing his allotment to the local authority’s coastal redevelopment scheme. Working as a trumpeter, teacher, club singer and club...

Betty and her daughter Corinna are introduced to the harsh seacoaling way of life by Ray, an ex-seacoaler returning from a job with ICI. His offer of a caravan on a cliff top and promises of the Klondyke that awaits them at least seem preferable to the violent...

A magical realist feature drama exploring the lives of a women’s darts team on North Shields’ Meadow Well Estate.

Set in the harness racing fraternity, this feature drama explores the conflict between urban and rural values and the relationship between an estranged father and son.

An experimental mix of thriller and documentary exploring the scandal centred on the one-time Newcastle Council Leader, aka The Mouth of the Tyne, who was sentenced to six years imprisonment in 1974 for corruption. A dynamic and visionary politician, Smith col...

This first co-production between the GDR and Great Britain is intended to contribute to an understanding of the situation and attitudes of millions of working people in opposing social orders. Using the example of shipyard workers, fishermen, the brigade and f...

Documentation of the 1984 Chesterfield by-election, which saw Tony Benn returned to parliament, and the early days of the Miners’ Strike which began shortly after.

Combines footage of the 100th Durham Miner's Gala held in 1983, with extracts from a miners' weekend school held two months later, to raise the central issues that were of concern to the mineworkers' union during the lead up to the national strike of 1984.

Activities leading up to the launch of a large ship built at the Swan Hunter's Wallsend shipyard.

Feelings of fear and isolation felt by an elderly woman navigating the new urban environments that had increasingly replaced traditional working class communities in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

A meditation on a lost era and the regenerative power of the sea, Song For Billy grew out of the haunting photographs of Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s photography project The Coal Coast. Tracing the scattered clues of England’s post-industrial northern coastline, w...

The Jellyfish employs a variety of experimental approaches, combining stop-motion and pixilation techniques, freely mixing black and white photography of beach landscapes, objects and people – along with some drawings – to build a poetic, very textured montage...

Portrait of Laurie Wheatley, a former plasterer with a life long interest in photography, drawing, painting and sculpture. Follows the production of his first ever life-size sculpture - a figure in plaster depicting a shipyard welder, and using the 'master-mou...

A documentation of the eponymous area of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, then under threat of redevelopment.

A documentary arising out of Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s Byker Revisited portraits from the different communities that now live on the Byker Wall Estate.

A portrait of the eccentric and obsessive collector (or compulsive hoarder) Mai Finglass, landlady to founder Amber members Murray Martin and Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, when students in London.

A chronicle of Finnish-born photographer Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen's return to her roots in Finland with her daughter Katja, after 23 years in Britain.