Film premiere for Mining Museum

Aug 28 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A NEW film depicting Britain’s coal industry is to get its world premiere in the Huddersfield area.

The National Coal Mining Museum for England has been chosen to host a free preview screening of King Coal.

It’s the first instalment of a major three-year British Film Institute project celebrating the UK’s 20th century industrial heritage.

The show takes place on Monday, September 7, at the former Caphouse Colliery, near Grange Moor, before the film is officially launched in Sheffield later in the month.

King Coal showcases some remarkable material from the British Film Institutes National Archive’s documentary and fiction collections.

The themes of the film range from the myth of the miner, domestic and community life to the agonising battles against pit closures in the 1980s.

The drama of working down the pit and the powerful ties of mining communities have long provided a rich subject matter for film-makers.

This latest film from the BFI National Archive presents rare footage from the Mitchell & Kenyon collection, the GPO, National Coal Board Film Units and campaigning videotapes made on behalf of striking miners, to create a riveting look at a century of coal.

A mining museum spokesman said: “King Coal is a turbulent story of coal and the immense effect it has had on British life.