Following on from the success of the inaugural Tyne Valley Film Festival – supported through our Ignition Awards in March 2019 – Forum Cinema Hexham are extending their commitment to showcasing archive film of local significance with a special screening on Tuesday, 24 September. Rewinding the Welfare State: a Social History of the North East on Film sees the Forum partner once again with the North East Film Archive to present material from their collections, including local news reports, Tyne Tees Television documentaries, trade union campaign films and more – many of which will screen for the first time since their initial production and exhibition.

Taken together, the films tell the story of one of the UK’s most important projects of social improvement and the specific impacts the Welfare State had on Hexham and its surrounding communities. Dr Ben Lamb from Teesside University will present the footage, charting a journey from the nascent days of the Welfare State in the early 20th century through to its development, expansion and reform in the intervening decades. His commentary will explore the role film and television has played in documenting and promoting social policy, whilst inviting audience feedback on the stories shared and discussing what lessons can be taken from political projects of the past to inform similar ambitions in the present.

Funding from the Our North curator support scheme will facilitate Ben’s attendance at the event and will help Forum expand their audiences for archive film screenings; reaching young people through targeted marketing, promotional offers and partnerships with local schools, colleges and universities.