Join for a special Filmmaker Roundtable with TISH director Paul Sng and producer Jen Corcoran, hosted by BFI Doc Society in partnership with BFI NETWORK Film Hub North and Tyneside Cinema

Friday 17 November, 6.30pm - 7.30pm in the Digital Lounge @ Tyneside Cinema

All roundtable participants are also offered a complimentary ticket to watch TISH at 8.15pm followed by a Q&A with with director Paul Sng, producer Jen Corcoran, Ella Murtha + Eileen Murtha Brown.

TISH is a moving portrait of social documentary photographer and trailblazer Tish Murtha, who dedicated her life to documenting the lives of working-class communities in North East England. TISH opened this year’s Sheffield DocFest and is released in UK cinemas by Modern Films. TISH was supported through the BFI Doc Society Fund using funds from the National Lottery.

We welcome up to 15 local filmmakers in the North East to join TISH director Paul Sng and producer Jen Corcoran in a friendly in-person roundtable chat about shaping nonfiction stories, building your networks and finding ways to fund your ideas.

This is a free session and is open to early career filmmakers and particularly those who may have experienced socio-economic barriers in developing their work, engaging with the film industry and sustaining creative careers.

During the roundtable, participants are invited to introduce themselves, their work, raise any questions they might have and share learnings with one another in a collegiate space. BFI Doc Society and BFI NETWORK representatives will be present to answer questions and share guidance about National Lottery funding and opportunities for support.

Following the roundtable is an opportunity to see TISH on it's opening night at Tyneside Cinema (starting at 8.15pm).

More about TISH

A working-class photographer captures the impact of Thatcherism on the north of England but is unable to escape the poverty and inequality she exposed.

Driven by a commitment to document the impact of deindustrialisation on working class communities in Northeast England in the 1970s and 1980s, Tish Murtha used her camera to expose societal inequality. She felt she had an obligation to the people and problems within her local environment, and that documentary photography could highlight and challenge the social disadvantages that she herself had suffered. However, despite early acclaim for her work, she was unable to make a living from photography and died in poverty.

The film is a journey of exploration for Ella Murtha as both daughter and custodian of the Tish Murtha archive, a chance to elevate and preserve a legacy that has been lost and to tell the story of an artist and woman outside of the ‘mother’ that existed for her – or the version of Tish claimed within dominant narratives of the 70s and 80s photography – from the people who knew Tish and the images she left behind.

https://www.modernfilms.com/tish#

About Paul Sng

Paul Sng is a bi-racial British Chinese filmmaker based in Edinburgh, Scotland whose work focuses on people who challenge the status quo. His films have been broadcast on television and screened internationally, and his feature documentary credits include DISPOSSESSION, POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICHE (winner of BIFA 2021 Best Documentary, BIFA 2021 Raindance Discovery Award) and TISH (Sheffield DocFest 2023 Opening Gala film). He is a 2022/23 BAFTA Breakthrough Artist.

About Jen Corcoran

Jen Corcoran is a creative producer based in north-east England. Her recent credits include TISH, dir. Paul Sng (Opening Gala - Sheffield Doc/Fest 2023) and the BIFA-nominated NASCONDINO [HIDE & SEEK], dir. Victoria Fiore (In Competition CPH:DOX 2022, LFF 2021). Jen has a particular interest in collaborative and ethical participation in documentary storytelling and art as activism. Jen produced the award-winning regional development programme Tees Valley Screen from 2020-21 and also works as a film lecturer and programmer.

TISH Filmmaker Roundtable + Screening