Launch (1973)
Related exhibitions
Coke to Coke
from: Photography
The closure of Derwenthaugh Cokeworks in the aftermath of the Miners' Strike and the nearby opening of the Metro Centre shopping mall, 1986 to 89.
Fishing Industry
from: Photography
A documentation of the North Shields fishing industry, 1979. The work later formed the bulk of the Amberside Fishing Pack, which was developed as an educational resource for North Tyneside schools.
Interiors
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Family portraits and home interiors from North Shields, 1979/80, developed as part of the broader photographic project, North Tyneside.
Jungle Portraits
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Portraits from a public house in North Shields, taken in 1980 as part of the broader photographic project, North Tyneside.
Bowes Line (1975)
from: Amber Films
One of Amber's most popular films, documenting the Bowes Railway, built by George Stephenson and linking Kibblesworth Colliery with Jarrow Staithes. See a video clip
Available as VHS - soon to be released on Amber's Tyne Documentaries DVD
Let Go
from: Photography
The North Shields fishing industry, documented in a project linked to Amber’s making of the feature film In Fading Light.
Dream On (1991)
from: Amber Films
Magic, fantasy, dreams and social realism in this feature drama exploring the lives of a women's darts team in North Shields.
Amber Styles gives an extraordinary performance as a woman forever willing to give her man a second chance. The Guardian
In Fading Light (1989)
from: Amber Films
A feature drama set in the declining fishing industry in North Shields, the actors auditioned and trained by local fishermen and filmed on the 63 foot seine netter bought by Amber. See a video clip
Compared to the Amber Film's briny air, Man of Aran and the like might almost be drawing room comedies... A forceful portrait of an imperilled way of life and a British film to be reckoned with. The Times
Available as DVD and VHS
Shields Stories (1988)
from: Amber Films
Ten 10 minute video dramas using the soap format to highlight a number of the issues affecting the community of North Shields, where Amber creatively based itself between 1986 and 1991.
Keeping Time (1983)
from: Amber Films
A North Shields dancing school and mother-daughter relationships in a blend of drama and documentary, which led to Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen's book and exhibition *Step by Step**.
Glassworks (1977)
from: Amber Films
A beautiful wordless documentary record of a Tyneside factory which specialised in hand glassmaking for industrial markets, from fine capillary tubes to large carboys. See a video clip
Available as VHS
Available as DVD
Last Shift (1976)
from: Amber Films
Starting with the workers' discussion of the future of Darkie the Horse, the documentary records the processes of a handmade brick factory, seemingly untouched by the industrial revolution.
Available as VHS
Available as DVD
High Row (1974)
from: Amber Films
The workers at this small drift coal mine, high in the Pennines, near Alston in Cumbria, collaborated with Amber in this documentary reconstruction of their working lives.
Maybe (1969)
from: Amber Films
A gentle documentary about the Shields Ferry on the River Tyne and its engine man, initiated while studying film at Regents Street Polytechnic by members of the group that was to become Amber.
Meadow Well: An English Estate
from: Photography
A housing estate in North Shields, achieving notoriety around rioting in 1991, photographed late 1980s/early 1990s in a project linked to the making of Dream On. Formerly known as The Ridges, it was also the setting for the film The Filleting Machine.
River Project
from: Photography
Photographs of the coal industry and shipbuilding on the River Tyne, 1970s. They are linked to Amber's films High Row, Launch and Bowes Line and Amber's The River Project, which brought together photography, film, visual art and writing.
Shipbuilding on the Tyne
from: Photography
Portraits and documentation of the shipyards on the Tyne from the early 1980s, when they were first beginning to feel the threat of the Conservative government's industrial policies.
Smith's Dock, North Shields
from: Photography
Documentation of a threatened shipyard in North Shields in 1990/91, when the photographer was living in the town and Amber was basing its creative activity there.
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