150 original photographs and film clips, that capture over 40 years of cultural, political and economic shifts in North East England.

Cover image: Girl on a spacehopper, Byker, 1974 by Sirkka-Liisa KonttinenImage above: WH Douglas, gents hairdresser, Raby Street, Byker, 1974 by Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen.

27 JUNE - 19 SEPTEMBER 2015

Laing Art GalleryNew Bridge StreetNewcastle upon TyneNE1 8AG

FREEOpening hours: Tues-Sat (10am-5pm) Sun (2pm-5pm)

EXHIBITION

Sunday 12 July | 3pmSEACOAL + GLASSWORKS (1985, 83 mins & 1977, 20 mins)

Ambers first feature drama, made with the seacoaling community at Lynemouth, Northumberland + GLASSWORKS a documentary about industrial glassblowing at Lemington.

Wednesday 15 July | 5.45pmIN FADING LIGHT + LAUNCH(1989, 103 mins & 1973, 10 mins,)

Feature drama about the North Shields fishing industry + LAUNCH documenting the launch of World Unicorn at Wallsend.

Sunday 26 July | 3pmDREAM ON (1991, 115 mins)

Magical realist feature drama exploring the lives of a womens darts team on North Shields Meadow Well Estate.

Wednesday 29 July | 5.45pmEDEN VALLEY (1995, 95 mins)

Feature drama made with the harness racing (trotting) community in County Durham

Wednesday 5 August | 5.45pmTHE WRITING IN THE SAND (1991, 45 mins)

A documentary about the life on NE beaches constructed from Sirkka-Liisa Konttinens photographs + LETTERS TO KATJA (1994, 57 mins) documenting Sirkka-Liisa Konttinens return to Finland.

Sunday 23 August | 3pmLIKE FATHER (2001, 95 mins)

Feature drama exploring mens lives in East Durham in the aftermath of pit closure + HIGH ROW (1973, 33 mins) documenting a small drift mine above the South Tyne Valley.

Wednesday 26 August | 5.45pm THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS (2008, 90 mins)

A documentary about Amber founder Murray Martin, who died in 2007 + MAYBE (1969, 10 mins) the Murray Martins student film which became Ambers first work.

Sunday 27 September| 3pm BYKER(1983, 53 mins)

A celebration of a working class community of terraced streets on the edge of destruction based around Sirkka-Liisa Konttinens photographs + TODAY IM WITH YOU (2010, 54 mins) Sirkka-Liisa Konttinens return to Byker Wall Estate to create a portrait of its new communities.

Wednesday 30 September | 5.45pm FROM US TO ME(2015, 85 mins, 5.45pm)

Ambers return to the former East German fishing and shipbuilding town of Rostock, which, in 1987, it documented as From Marks & Spencer to Marx and Engels.

FILM SCREENINGS

Book online at: www.tynesidecinema.co.uk . Tyneside Cinema, Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 6QG . 0191 227 5500

CONFERENCE

A two day conference organised by Newcastle Universitys Institute for Creative Arts Practice and Amber Film & Photography Collective.

Contact mel.whewell@ncl.ac.uk for more information or

to register your interest.

Image: Weardale, County Durham, 1995 by Jindrich Streit

10 - 11 JULY 2015

Friday 10 July: Past Practices: Context and Critique

Saturday 11 July: Contemporary Practices: Openings and New Opportunities

Room B32 Barbara Strang Teaching CentreNewcastle University

FUTURE PRESENCEDocumentary Practices & Possibilities

CONFERENCE ITINERY:

Friday 10 July Past Practices: Context and Critique

Morning Session

9.30 - 10.00 Registration and Refreshments10.00 10.05 Welcome and Introductions Professor Eric Cross, Director, Newcastle University Institute for Creative Arts Practice & Dr Ian McDonald, Senior Lecturer in Film Practice, Newcastle University & documentary filmmaker

10.05 10.15 Overview: Graeme Rigby, Amber Films & Photography Collective

10.15 - 10.45 PHOTOGRAPHY: Presentation by Ian Macdonald (Greatham Creek, Tees Estuary, Blast Furnace)

10.45 - 11.15 PHOTOGRAPHY: Presentation by Keith Pattison (Easington August 1984)

11.15 12.15 Panel Discussion and Q&A with Ian Macdonald, Keith Pattison; Graeme Rigby 12.15 1.00 Screening: Writing in the Sand (Amber Films, 1991, 45 mins),

13.00 13.30 Lunch

Afternoon Session

13.30 - 14.30 Screening: Handsworth Songs, (Black Audio 1986, 61 mins), 14.30 - 15.00 FILM: Amber presentation on its 80s work/workshop movement production Ellin Hare, Amber Films & Photography Collective 15.00 - 15.30 FILM: Black Audio presentation on its 80s work/workshop movement production. John Akomfrah & Lina Gopaul, Smoking Dogs Films

15.30 - 16.00 Panel Q&A: Ellin Hare, John Akomfrah & Lina Gopaul; Ian McDonald (chair)

16.00 16.15 Refreshments 16.15 - 16.30 Panel of the Documented A discussion with individuals whose lives and communities have been documented in films and photography projects linked to works held in the AmberSide Collection. Ellin Hare (chair)

16.30 - 17.15 Researching Amber - The promise of an oppositional arts: the enduring relevance of the Amber Collective Robert Hollands, Professor of Sociology, Newcastle University John Vail, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Newcastle University

17.30 Close

Saturday 11 July Contemporary Practices: Openings and New Opportunities

Morning Session

9.30 - 10.00 Refreshments

10.00 - 10.30 Developing documentary practice & pedagogy: The role of the University Ian McDonald, Senior Lecturer in Film Practice, Newcastle University & documentary filmmaker

10.30 - 12.00 PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO: Verso Images presentation of Grozny: Nine Cities Olga Kravets, Maria Morina, Anna Shpakova, Oksana Yushko, Verso Images. Followed by Panel Q&A chaired by Graeme Rigby, Amber Film & Photography Collective

12.00 12.30 Lunch

12.30 - 14.00 Option 1: Screenings12.30 13.00: Student Short Docs: A series of short docs produced by MA Media students at Newcastle University. 13.00 14.00 Today Im With You (Amber Films, 2010, 53 mins)

12.30 14.00: Option 2: Guided Tour Guided tour of the For Ever Amber exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery. (15min walk from conference venue)

Afternoon Session

14.15 - 14.45 FILM: Presentation by Amber of From Us To Me Ellin Hare, Amber Films & Photography Collective (chair) 14.45 - 15.45 Panel Discussion - the use of archive works in contemporary documentary Ellin Hare, Graeme Rigby, Amber Films & Photography Collective (chairs) with John Akomfrah & Lina Gopaul, Smoking Dogs Films

15.45 16.00 Refreshments

16.00 - 16.45 Open discussion on future possibilities for documentary practice Ian McDonald and Peter Taylor (Director, Berwick Film & Media-Arts Festival)

17.00 Close