This film is part of Free
An Island Built on Coal
Insightful documentary charting the decline of industrial relations in mining culminating in the 1984-85 strike
Overview
"You've got to be a miner to understand how drastic and final are the effects of a pit closure". Made in the immediate aftermath of the tumultuous UK miners' strike (1984-85), this enlightening documentary charts the gradual decline of industrial relations in the coalmining industry from the point of nationalisation in 1947 to the closures of the 1980s. The strains of Mozart's Requiem over excerpts from Mining Review newsreels depicting lifeless collieries and deserted villages conjure an aptly elegiac tone.
The film includes interviews with current and former representatives from both sides of the coalmining industry. The Newcastle-based Trade Films made campaigning films and videos for the trade union movement between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s. An Island Built on Coal was one of many Trade films on the subject of industrial relations. Horden colliery, Durham, whose fate was hanging in the balance at the time of filming, was closed on 7 February 1986, after the film was completed.
Related
Miner Miner
Documentary 1950 36 mins Silent Location: Featherstone
Absorbing overview of coalmining in the early years of nationalisation.
Thud and Blunder in Knock off Time Thud and Blunder in Knock off Time
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1964 2 mins
Miners' safety training - marked by stylish animation and gallows humour.
Energy Energy
Advert 1935 42 mins Silent Location: Cardiff/Caerdydd
Coal, between the world wars, makes the industrialised world go round and Cory Bros & Co Ltd, with collieries in south Wales and oil refineries across the globe, is a major player.
Big Pit Big Pit
Industry sponsored film 1978 7 mins Location: Blaenavon
Memories of Blaenavon Colliery, Monmouthshire, as it nears its end.
Guilty Chimneys Guilty Chimneys
Documentary 1954 18 mins
Elegiac sponsored film imploring viewers to "allow the sun to penetrate the haze of ignorance" and relieve British cities of pollution.
People Will Always Need Coal People Will Always Need Coal
Advert 1975 1 mins
Deliriously kitsch recruitment ad for the implausibly glamorous world of coalmining.
If I Make It To The Morning If I Make It To The Morning
Drama 2024 9 mins
A Chinese teenager dreams of living with her cool aunt in New York, until tensions boil over during a crab dinner.
We’ll Go Down in History We’ll Go Down in History
Documentary 2025 25 mins
Two years in the life of TRUK United FC, a beacon for positive change and trans inclusivity in football.
Wrong Bathroom Wrong Bathroom
Drama 2024 9 mins
A trans high-schooler is tempted by toxic masculinity in the boys’ bathroom.
Dragfox Dragfox
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2024 8 mins
A child struggling with their identity and a charismatic fox (voiced by Sir Ian McKellen) learn to embrace their differences in this heart warming stop-motion animation.
Wait, Wait, Now! Wait, Wait, Now!
Drama 2024 13 mins
A Maori and a Kiwi teen buddy up to raid their mum’s wardrobe and pucker their lips with red.
NGGAK!!! NGGAK!!!
Drama 2024 8 mins
‘I pronounce you wife and wife.’ A young couple design their perfect wedding online, but then mum dials in.