Orgreave film latest

Last month, UniteLive highlighted a new film, Strike: An Uncivil War directed by BAFTA-winning filmmaker Daniel Gordon, which tells the story of Orgreave, when forty years ago police forces brutally assaulted striking pickets near Sheffield.

It was a pivotal moment in the 1984-85 miners’ strike, after which dozens of pickets were arrested on trumped up charges following the police attack, with the South Yorkshire Police fabricating evidence to cover up police violence. 

Released to mark the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Orgreave, the film premiered on June 16 at Sheffield Doc Fest and was followed by a series of special preview screenings before a wider UK-wide cinema release to widespread acclaim.

In the latest update on the film, Strike: An Uncivil War is now available for in-person community or educational screenings. If your organisation would like to book the film for a screening please contact Jonny Tull at Tull Stories via [email protected], and let them know where you would like to screen the film and how many people you anticipate attending. Once they have this information, they will then come back to you with a rental fee.

Filmmaker and author Morag Livingstone, whose research was used in the documentary, told UniteLive last month why the film was so important.

“The film has managed to balance eyewitness accounts with newly found archive footage and research very well,” she said. “Orgreave represents one of the most serious abuses of power by police and government in this country’s industrial and trade union history, the truth of which has never been told or acknowledged by the State. Instead, successive Conservative governments and senior police have worked to cover it up. It is important that the truth is established and the film goes a long way in doing that.”

You can find out more about the film, including screening dates at cinemas across the country on the Tull Stories website here.

By Hajera Blagg

Pictured, miners who appear in the film Strike: an Uncivil War alongside production crew, photo by Michael Donald ©