This film is part of Free
Black Diamonds
A Barnsley miner dreams of shooting a film about life down the pits in this audaciously ambitious amateur feature.
Overview
Inspired by the Cadeby Main pit disaster, this is former miner and amateur director Charles Hanmer's innovative and audaciously ambitious feature debut. It's the tale of brassy Yorkshireman John Morgan's (played by Dewsbury's Beckett Bould) quest to convince an MP to finance a film about pit life. Threading stories about safety and technology with sketches of miners' hobbies, it's a holistic portrait of Barnsley pitmen.
The film follows up Hanmer's 1928 documentary Tour of a British Coal Mine (also available on BFI Player), and re-cuts many of its underground sequences to craft a campaign denouncing dangerous working conditions and calling for greater recognition of miners' sacrifices.
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.
Building of St. Mary's Bridge Building of St. Mary's Bridge
Amateur film 1959 8 mins Silent Location: Doncaster
An eye-opening, albeit rough-edged, look at the modern rebuilding of the historic St. Mary’s bridge in 1950s Doncaster.
Co-op 3-D Film Co-op 3-D Film
Advert 1952 1 mins Location: Doncaster
This strange early 1950s stereoscopic 3-D film is a colourful document of the Co-operative Wholesale Society in Doncaster
The Flying Doctor The Flying Doctor
Documentary 1988 10 mins Location: Doncaster
Snow is no barrier for 74 year old Helena as the propellers get fired up on her Hornet Moth and off she flies over the hills of South Yorkshire.
Brother to the Ox Brother to the Ox
Biopic 1981 54 mins Location: Doncaster
This harrowing look at the realities of farm and child labour in 1904 reveals the residues of feudalism persisting into the twentieth century.
Another Bloody Sunday Another Bloody Sunday
Documentary 1981 53 mins Location: Doncaster
Move over Spinal Tap, there is no need for parody in this superb documentary of a Doncaster Rugby League team, and loyal followers, that turns out every Sunday for a ritual beating.
The St Leger The St Leger
Non-Fiction 1913 3 mins Silent Location: Doncaster
Top hats and flat caps, a flat race with a close finish; jockey Elijah "Whippet" Wheatley, winning his solitary Classic, dismounts, and Night Hawk shows off her unsaddled beauty.
Women in Action Panel Discussion Women in Action Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 28 mins
Action Xtreme - the UK's leading action film studio - hosts this panel discussion with four leading women in action cinema - Soo Cole, Jo Rolison, Jadey Duffield and Ioanna Karavela.
Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 24 mins
Daniel Kokotajlo talks to Nia Childs about Starve Acre, his folk horror about a couple digging deep into grief in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.
Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 30 mins
Sky Peals director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub talk to Tomisin Adepeju about their magic realist drama.
Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell
Documentary 2024 42 mins
Documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell.
Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels
Short documentary 2024 12 mins
Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of a series of comic travelogues, and Michael Powell's involvement in making them.
New Perspectives: Oldboy New Perspectives: Oldboy
Short documentary 2024 4 mins
Discover why Dan George of Northumbria University believes everyone should experience Oldboy at least once.