Kino Eye: The Miners’ Hymns
Something very different to bring to a conclusion my series of four films for the 40th anniversary of the 1984-5 miners’ strike. The Miners’ Hymns was premiered in July 2010 in Durham Cathedral, directed by Bill Morison the avant-garde filmmaker, with music by Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson, the founder of Kitchen Motors, an experimental art group in Reykjavik. It is a beautiful, poetic celebration of mining culture and particularly its music. Using archive footage, the film features “The Big Meeting”, otherwise known as the Durham Miners’ Gala, and the music blends with and highlights...