Amber Online

The Murray Martin Award

13th February 2009 By: Graeme Rigby

After Amber founder member and key visionary Murray Martin died in 2007, many people suggested that the group should set up an award in his memory, perhaps giving a young filmmaker an opportunity. It obviously needed to be a celebration of the kind of work he spent his life encouraging, but Amber also wanted to celebrate the way Murray would simply take a punt on someone. With funding from Northern Film and Media, the film and photography collective has taken a punt on Florence Darling, offering training, access to equipment, a context for discussion and all kinds of other practical support.

Florrie Darling writes about her film project:

On 5th March 2003, along with two hundred young people in Newcastle upon Tyne and thousands of others around the country, I walked out of my classroom in protest at the prospect of war in Iraq. In 2001, only 39% of 18-24 year olds voted in the General Election, compared to 70% of people aged 65 and over. More young people voted in Big Brother than they did in the 2005 election. In the context of the time, what the young people’s anti-war movement achieved during that time seemed remarkable.

The idea for this film grew out of the anti war protests and the people I met through them. I was particularly inspired by a visit I made to speak to Elswick Girls Group, a project for young women in the West End of Newcastle. Their articulacy and their politics seemed to have no outlet. I went on to study politics and write a dissertation on the subject of youth particiaption, but in my imagination it was always a film, rooted in my own community and in my own experience, exploring young people and politics through their own stories.

Growing up in the North East, which has always been an area of heightened political activity, I couldn’t understand what had changed since the 1980s when my parents went to demonstrations every week on Northumberland Street. The 1985 Miners’ Strike was a crucial part of North East history and my background as I was named after a coal mine. I will talk to young adults from mining families to see how that experience has affected their political outlook.

I went to the Amber Weekend School in March 2008 and began to revisit my film. I was inspired by the way Amber makes social documentary through listening to people, making portraits of their lives and not imposing stories onto them. This idea of portraiture is one that I have carried through from the beginning. I wanted this film to look at the context of young people’s lives and the ways context had affected participation. I approached Amber with my idea and found myself the first recipient of the Murray Martin Award, which has been supported by Northern Film & Media. The Amber collective’s support has enabled me to get this long-germinated idea off the ground. I had no prior experience of film making, access to equipment or knowledge of how to use it. A group of young filmmakers has gathered around the project and Amber is working with us, helping to develop the ideas, discussing approaches, training us in the use of equipment and giving us access to means of making the film.

Supported by:
Northern Film & Media Logo