Cost of Living in archive films: Are lessons ever learned from Yorkshire's strikes and riots of the past?

The answer, it suggests, is that it’s the same crises time and again, from the 1950s and 60s and 70s to 2023. That little is learned from the cycle of poverty and politics.

Footage shows the shelves of a Leeds’ food bank laid bare, with one woman saying: “I’m fed up with the lot of them. None of the parties seem to do anything for people like me.”

One mother said she saves her three meals for the weekend when the “bairns” will be home.

Cost of Living, the new short film, forms a parable of social injustice as well as of defiance and of hopes for a rising equality. It comes from the question: Can cinema make social change?

Commissioned by York St John University’s Cinema and Social Justice Project, it is funded by the Screen Industries Growth Network and made by the Film Archives.

From Leeds, York, Hull, Sheffield and Wakefield in Yorkshire to Teesside, Jarrow and Blyth, the footage has been edited and woven together by filmmaker Andy Burns.

Women marching to Reclaim the Night and campaigning over childcare. There are empty petrol pumps, food banks, and Government tips for saving money. With an uncanny sense of déjà vu, it evokes a past that feels uncomfortably contemporary.

Dr Martin Hall, senior lecturer at the university’s school of Film and Media, is co-founder of the project. The film, he said, is a call to arms. While history repeats itself, it doesn’t have to.

“It ought not to,” he said. “This should not be the cost of living. Nobody should have to choose between feeding their family or themselves. The question is ‘are we learning from our mistakes?’”

When the project began in 2021, it was a matter of creating a “moving colour palette” in 16mm reels. There were some 200 source films, from regional news outlets and documentary programming across Yorkshire and the North East from the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

Then the news cycle started growing, with talk of fuel shortages, job cuts and strikes. Suddenly archivists found themselves reliving the footage they found.Archive manager Graham Relton is the film’s producer. There was a sense of disappointment, he said, rather than of surprise.

“I guess it’s a reflection of our system in the UK,” he said. “What I did notice, in these films from across the decades, was that it was different political cycles. While the film may seem to be a political comment – the content was under different political parties.”

This is a human story, he said, that resonates with people because of the topics it raises. As this year brings a series of strikes, with families facing mounting bills and fears over mortgages, debates rumble on over levelling up, transport and housing.

“We do need to prioritise these basic human needs, shelter, warmth and community,” he said. “There will be disparity in society, some people have more and some people have less. Basic rights take precedence. A child died last year because of mould in his flat. That is shocking in this day and age. This is a shock to the system – what can we do to help?”

The 16-minute film was originally intended as a resource for students, but its popularity has snowballed and it’s now to reach festival audiences across the country. It will be shown to school pupils via BFI Into Film, the UK’s leading charity for film in education. It was also released online to coincide with the World Day of Social Justice on Monday via Yorkshire Film Archive.

The team had debated what to call it. One working title was Needs Must. Another was Doomed to Repeat It. Neither fit. Ultimately, they said, this wasn’t all doom and gloom. Throughout the film there are reels of resilience, with protests that were successful and stand out pride.

“There is that message of hope,” said Dr Hall. “Yes history does repeat itself but it’s a cycle we can address.”

Mr Relton added: “There are feelings of anger, and frustration, but also of taking action. We’re not saying ‘take to the streets’. But we can, in our own way, focus on social change for the better. We want people to be inspired. To see how we can shift the die a little bit so that we can maybe not repeat it.”

Dr Lauren Stephenson, Senior Lecturer: Film and Media & Communications, said: “From our initial brief to explore pressing issues of housing, homelessness, poverty and activism, the film reveals our collective memories of past crises. It starkly highlights the need to listen to and learn from our past if we are to hope for a more socially and economically just future.”

Click here to view the film in full.