AN award-winning father-daughter filmmaking duo have taken on a project that explores local mining history.
Rebecca Sills, 25, and father Dean Sills, 55, from Bolton-upon-Dearne, have already won over 100 awards in international film festivals for their work.
Yet their latest project looks like it will gain them further recognition, as they are making an extensive documentary covering the mining industry that shaped Dearne Valley.
Titled Regeneration, the documentary uses interviews and archived footage to give a brutally honest look at the politics and economics that defined the region.
Dean said: “It’s a great film which is emotional at times, taking us all on a journey back to a lost world.
“We need to remember our mining history and how it resulted in mass unemployment and social deprivation, and how the distinctive landmarks have all gone, making way for areas which now thrive with nature.”
The film has already won four awards including the Best Documentary Short Film at the Kuala Lumpur Global Film Festival, and it has made it into nine film festivals so far including two in the UK.
It also features Dean talking about what life was like as a child living in a mining community, and uses old Super 8 footage of Dean’s family.
Rebecca added: “I am very proud of this film and the fact it features my family.
“My mum’s dad is even on the poster, he was a miner at Goldthorpe Pit.
“It’s hard to imagine what life was like back then for people in our communities.
“I am so grateful to everyone who helped with the making of this film, especially ex-miners like John Greaves and John Beard.
“I made the film as part of my MA in filmmaking and it helped me to achieve a first-class honours degree.
“I have now changed it a little so we can release the film on DVD just before the anniversary of the miners’ strike.”
