In the Veins

In the Veins’ is a 25 minute film that resonates through time, using over a century of archive footage to shine a light onto the face of the mining heritage of Yorkshire and the North East of England. The co-production between Teesside University and the Yorkshire and North East Film Archive is a story of hardship and hope, division and defiance, perseverance and pride; this is not a history lesson, it’s an emotional journey that digs deep into the heart of communities built on coal.

Four decades on from the 1984/5 miners’ strike, its anniversary provided us with an opportunity to reflect on the rich history of mining in the UK over the last century and how it affected the people, places, and identity of those involved.

In the Veins is the result of mining amateur and professional films, local television news and promotional footage, totalling over 115 source films, then carefully crafting a respectful production that would represent a proud and often forgotten community.

We recruited a diverse volunteer ‘community curator’ group, who helped us shape the production. The 13-strong group have lived and worked in mining communities, at the coalface, in the community. They were invaluable; they provided emotional responses, factual advice, and ideas for how the film could connect with audiences, their communities, in a meaningful and authentic way.

The research underpinning this practice builds on the participatory filmmaking of Claudia Mitchell and Naydene de Lange (2020) Sara E Baumann (2021), and Agata Lulkowska (2023) who emphasise that practice as research must go beyond artistic expression to include constant reflective evaluation, theoretical framing, and methodological transparency with participants. We utilised this approach by holding regular meetings throughout the film’s production to ensure all community curators had meaningful editorial impact at every key stage of editing the film together and that it spoke to their emotional connection to mining.

“All our perspectives were valued and definitely incorporated into the final film. I really liked how we started having input very early on in the editing process and that we were asked for our views on the first couple of minutes so that we could help build the project as collaborators”. David Lister, (community curator) geologist.

“I feel a real sense of ownership and am glad we had our discussions as it brought up a lot of ethical issues we had different views on that we were able to navigate sensitively through a politically balanced group consensus”. Julie Ward (community Curator) Jack Drum Arts Founder

The decision to make a film comprising only of archival footage was a deliberate one. It enabled us to explore the everyday experiences of mining communities ignored by Strike: An Uncivil War (Netflix 2024), Miners’ Strike: A Frontline Story (BBC 2024) and Miners' Strike 1984: The Battle For Britain (Channel 4 2024). It also enabled us to apply established participatory filmmaking methods to the ‘archival turn’ in media studies. Utilising Russell’s ‘Archiveology’ (2018) and Fenwick’s Archive Histories (2021) – as well as considering Groo’s (2019), Kim’s (2020), Baron’s (2020) and Hediger’s (2024) approaches - forged a new methodological approach to participatory filmmaking that impacts the heritage sector and the communities they serve. Building on the ‘turn to history’s ethical analyses of how archival inequalities can be overcome to complicate history; our new Community Curators model ensures participants in filmmaking and screenings regularly explore the link between their sense of place and their identity.

Through this research methodology In the Veins specifically addresses the following problems and challenges:
1 How to ensure stories and voices from coalmining communities hidden from mainstream discourse are more widely known, available and are heard
2 How to produce greater public engagement with, and understanding of, the choices that are made in curating, interpreting and presenting history
3 How to develop a Community Curators methodological model coalescing participatory filmmaking with the turn to history whereby residents of former coalmining communities are empowered to change how the Miners’ Strike and history underlying it is commemorated and remembered publicly
4 How to support former coalmining communities by fostering a sense of civic pride, and security whilst encouraging residents to imagine new futures through deeper understandings of people and place, storytelling, heritage and identity

Impact
Of the 2,0003 members of the public who attended our 36 in person screenings:
• 72% had never attended an archive film screening before
• 60% felt further Informed
• 54% now Think differently about the UK mining industry in some way

Those with memories of the mining industry felt:
“It demonstrated the loss of so much more than a job but community and belonging and purpose”.
“It conveyed the true sense of community and the impact on this during the strike and after the pit closures”
“It brought back many memories of the community spirit in South Yorkshire”

People without a direct connection to mining felt:
“I learnt a lot from perspectives I hadn't considered before”.
“It was inspiring and informative to hear from all the speakers and about connecting the past to present struggles”.
“It made me think more of 'how would/should an alternative working and living community be built”

For Graham Relton Co-Director of Yorkshire and North East Film Archive:
Forging new partnerships from Beamish and Washington Arts Centre to Wheatley Hill Workmen’s Social Club & Institute from Danum Gallery, Doncaster, to the National Coal Mining Museum, Wakefield, enabled us to reach ‘working class’ communities, many of which wouldn’t ordinarily engage with their screen heritage. As an Archive we were delighted with the in-person audience numbers and the 28,000 + views online that surpassed expectations by 20,000 views. We attribute this, in part to the community focus of the film which has helped to sustain and develop the profile of the Archive.

For Katie Cavanagh, Head of Collections, Exhibitions and Digital, National Coal Mining Museum for England the film provided another way for us to connect with our mining communities by showing content relevant to them and their lived experiences that ensures our mining communities feel valued and seen.