The inside story of an independent, crowd-funded film about the 1984-85 miners strike. Report by Hywel Wiliam and Tim Hartley
Margaret Thatcher labelled them the “enemy within” and the media cast them as “Arthur’s Army”.
Marking the 30th anniversary of the 1984-85 miners strike, Sinead Kirwan and Owen Gower from production company Bad Bonobo explained at a Wales Centre event how they made Still the Enemy Within as an independent, crowd-funded film.
Together, they raised £75,000 to tell the hidden story of the people behind the longest national industrial dispute in British history.
Kirwan and Gower collaborated with Mike Simons, the author of two acclaimed books on the strike, and photographers John Sturrock and John Harris, who took some of the most iconic images of the strike.
During the talk, which was held at the Park & Dare Theatre, Treorchy in April, Gower reflected on how the broadcast news coverage at the time was criticised for its pro-police bias. Citing what became known as the Battle of Orgreave, and having viewed more than 2,000 hours of BBC and ITN news material, Owen said: “The BBC admitted that it re-edited the footage so that it looked as if the miners had started the violence.”
The miners interviewed were drawn from coalfields across the UK, including Scotland and Nottingham, areas not greatly documented in the past.
Kirwan added that the film avoided interviews with the key players, such as Arthur Scargill. “We deliberately kept to people on the frontline,” she said.
The film-makers defended the film’s perspective and structure, which gives a chronological account of the strike. “It’s more objective to fully report the miners’ views and allow people to agree or disagree,” said Kirwan.
The completed, 112-minute film received its premiere at the Sheffield Documentary Festival on 9 June 2014.
