Amber FilmsSocial realist cinema in the UK is usually associated with Ken Loach, but the filmmakers and photographers at Amber Films have been doing it for decades too. Started in the late Sixties in the unlikely setting of Regent Street, it moved to Newcastle and has been based there ever since. Their aim is to chronicle the lives of working class people in the region, and to that end they have produced documentaries and dramas that give an insight into areas often neglected by the industry as a whole. Their output includes Seacoal, funded by Channel 4, set on the beach at Lynemouth and A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Utopia, about controversial council leader T. Dan Smith. Perhaps most notable was The Scar, concerning the Eighties miners' strike and the changing face of the British Labour Party. The only things most moviegoers know about that time is via Billy Elliot. But Amber played a role there also - the script used Step By Step by collective member Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen as a starting point.
I am a journalist and comedian who enjoys American movies of the 70s, Amicus horror compendiums, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, Naomi Watts and sitting down. My short fiction has been published as part of the Iris Wildthyme range from Obverse Books.
