Hebden Bridge Film Festival announces 2024 dates with launch film ‘Tish’ shown at the Hebden Bridge Picture House

This year’s launch film will be ‘Tish’ shown at the Hebden Bridge Picture House on Thursday, November 30 2023 at 7pm.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Paul Sng in conversation with Louise Wadley from the Hebden Bridge Film Festival.

Tish Murtha, a pioneering British photographer who used her camera to expose social inequality in the 1970s-80s, is the subject of Paul Sng’s (Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché) powerful and moving new documentary film.

Brought up in South Shields, Murtha felt driven to chronicle the impact of Thatcherism and deindustrialisation on working class communities in Northeast England, and to explore her community from the inside, challenging stereotypes and highlighting the social disadvantages that she herself suffered from.

The film follows Murtha’s daughter Ella, the custodian of the Tish Murtha Archive, as she seeks to elevate and preserve her mother’s work and legacy.

The film is a passionate and compassionate tribute to a brilliantly talented photographer whose career was tragically cut short and whose name should be up there with the other UK Photographers like Martin Parr and Sunil Gupta.

Festival director, Louise Wadley, said: “We’re delighted to be launching our 2024 festival with this moving and insightful documentary and to have Paul Sng join us for a Q and A afterwards to give his insights into Tish’s life and work is really special.

"Many of our audience will recognise Tish’s iconic images even if they did not realise she was the photographer.

“As an added bonus, the voice of Murtha is played by HBFF patron Maxine Peake.”

Hebden Bridge Film Festival brings artists and diverse audiences together to celebrate storytelling.

The film festival brings film lovers to the Calder Valley and champions emerging and established voices and introduces new ideas through exclusive premieres, exhibitions, conversations, and live performances.

Tickets for the Launch Night's screening of ‘Tish’ are available by visiting hebdenbridgepicturehouse.co.uk.

Earlybird passes for the festival will be available from November 30.