In Fading Light filum review - them clever folk at Amber

The death of fishing in North Shields; 

A modern morality tale 

In Fading Light (1989)

A film by Amber Collective and starring Dave Hill, Sammy Johnson, Joana Ripley, Joe Caffrey, a fishing boat and of course, North Shields

Now Amber collective is something to admire. Film-makers/writers/photographers documenting communities across the north east of England and in doing so capturing poignant moments of a region's decline. "In Fading Light" is a story set in the twilight of the great North Sea fishing industry. It was a time where many local North Shields families lived off the fish bought in and unloaded on the quayside. My family, the younger males remember being hit up by the bawdy and deeply funny herring girls. Others had at some time packed kippers or cleaned fish. One uncle had a business making the wooden packing boxes. And men in the family, if they didn't do some time in the mines (for their bond money or because of their age) went out on boats before joining the navy (Royal and Merchant). It is in our blood.

This film, which you can order from Amber on DVD, is an unsung hero of British film. Tom Hadaway's script is in parts deeply funny, prejudiced (fishing boats were male domains and in this story it is a woman who sneaks aboard) and tragic in its outcome. It is broad with Geordie and the better for it. It is also a testimony to a way of film making which is rare. Small crew, dedicated actors and a fishing boat that appears to have sailed its own course more often than not. Most of the action is set on an anchor trawler fishing the North Sea; home port of North Shields. At core is the relationship between daughter and her estranged father (Dave Hill as trawler skipper). But holding equal position is or was the working life of the North Shields quayside and the disintegrating British/local fishing industry. 

The actors learned to sail the trawler and to fish supported by the local fishermen. In doing so, meaningful relationships were formed. It is a film and story that is rewarding and heart breaking.  And then there is the long commitment by the film-makers and collective to the community. It is reflected in the genuine open hearted way of engaging with the community in making this film and the response of local people enjoying being bit actors for this, my cousin one. And Dave Hill is a joy to watch as were the majority of the cast. More than wussy method acting, these boys and girl (and film crew) went out and filmed in a full throated North Sea gale/storm. There is humour in the recollections of the actors who as they went out to film to get storm footage, the hardened fishermen and boats were heading into the quayside at a fast clip seeking shelter and sit out the storm. Bloody actors eh? 

My DVD copy has a great documentary on the making of this film and shows how another north eastern industry was lost. Seeing the fishermen in the doco saying there are no fish left to harvest in the North Sea was sobering. Their admission it was as much from their own greed than all due to market forces. But they also note it was the dredging with huge nets which came and sucked the life out of the sea, the sea-bed has barely recovered from this pillage.

The last time I was in Shields in 2011 (visiting from Australia)-the quay was almost empty of fishing boats. Now North Shields has 'apartments' and lifestyle industry and there is no longer the unloading of boxes of fish, the shriek of gulls, the stink of fish and guts, the rattling of chains, nor the sight of nets drying along the jetties. This film and "North Shields Stories" remain records of a life which has now passed on and by. I feel poorer for its loss.

All photographs used on this page are from the Amber Films Collective.