The Miners’ Hymns

The Miners’ Hymns

Bill Morrison, United Kingdom, 2010, 52’

The Miners’ Hymns, a documentary elegy with stunning visuals and sound by American director Bill Morrison (Oscar nominee for the film Incident), revives the memory of the mining heritage of northeast England through archival footage and music by the iconic Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (Oscar nominee for The Theory of Everything and Sicario).

The documentary uses rare archive footage from Durham, England, to highlight fragments of the social, cultural, and political life of miners—from everyday scenes in the mine to political protests and ceremonial parades. Morrison’s work is both a tribute and a warning – a quiet but powerful testimony to the social changes that have marked generations of workers.

We prepared the programme in cooperation with BETRIB – Festival of Industrial Culture.