Think you’re a found footage expert having seen everything from The Blair Witch Project to Paranormal Activity? Well, this might blow you away; not only does this year’s Tribeca Film Festival boast two fictional found footage-style films, but a non-fiction one, too! It’s a documentary called The Miners’ Hymns.
Director Bill Morrison is known for using shots bearing signs of chemical deterioration, further enhancing the decay through digital processing, but here, he uses pristine black and white material from the British National Archives as well as some gorgeous freshly shot color footage. Morrison combined the two in his effort to reconstruct the history of coal mining in Durham, England, including the miners’ strike of 1984. A documentary with zero dialogue, talking heads or narration, The Miners’ Hymns relies solely on Morrison’s construction and Jóhann Jóhannsson’s score to express a narrative.
In time with The Miners’ Hymns premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival both Morrison and the film’s producer, David Metcalfe, sat down to tell us about the production of the film beginning with Metcalfe approaching Morrison about making the film to Morrison having to create imagery to accompany Jóhannsson’s music and more. Hear it all for yourself in the video interview below.
