‘We wanted to capture the reinvention of Sheffield’.
Thirty years ago, a documentary about four people with enormous hopes in post-industrial Sheffield was released to critical acclaim.
Tales from a Hard City could be considered a tragicomedy. While the designers intended for it to be humorous, struggle is a significant theme.
The major characters in the 1995 film fail in their attempts to become actors, entertainers, and music moguls, despite their involvement in the documentary was the pinnacle of their success.
Still, their excellent efforts garnered it a passionate following, and it is hoped that the inauguration of an exhibition about the documentary would breathe fresh life into it.
Kim Flitcroft and Alex Usborne co-created Tales from a Hard City. The pals had previously produced two films about Sheffield’s vibrant boxing scene:
Brendan’s Boys, based on the famed Ingle Gym, and Johnny Fantastic, which followed the career of world champion Johnny Nelson.
Those films served as inspiration and even characters for their next effort, according to Usborne, who grew up in the Steel City and watched its industrial downfall.
One day, while standing outside the Ingle Gym in Wincobank, he realised that the Lower Don Valley, once the pulsing core of Sheffield’s steel industry, resembled a “wasteland”. Meadowhall shopping centre was under construction in the distance.
“There was this notion that Sheffield would regenerate through shopping, media, sport and celebrity,” according to Usborne. Flitcroft recalls seeing construction “everywhere we went” as redevelopment gained momentum.
To that aim, Usborne describes Tales from a Hard City as “about a moment in time” for the city and its residents. “It was looking for stories that were about a reinvention.”
Bill StephensonThe film was several years in the making. Filming began in 1993, four years after the idea was first conceived, amid the installation of the city’s tram network, another period of upheaval for the city.
It was eventually released two years later. The documentary follows the ups and downs of four people attempting to reinvent themselves:
Glen is a self-confessed petty thief who dreams of a music career, ex-boxer Paul now wants to be an actor, and entrepreneur Wayne sees an opportunity to reinvent single mother Sarah as a performer after her dancing in a Greek bar resulted in her arrest and incarceration, causing a tabloid stir back home.
“Sarah might not be the world’s best dancer, Glen not the world’s best singer, and Paul not the world’s best actor, but they were having a go,” Flitcroft explains.
“I admired what they were doing.” Flitcroft believes that the film’s memorable characters contribute to its long-lasting popularity. “People engage with these characters, and they generally like and enjoy their company.
“That was certainly my experience with them, I enjoyed being with them.”
‘Surviving and flourishing’
Comedy was also important to their popularity, with each film featuring numerous outstanding scenes for the audience.
“Every scene we are going for laughs,” says Usborne, who still resides in his hometown. All the while, according to archivist Alex Wilson, who has helped arrange the upcoming show as part of the No Bounds festival, the video “very much captures Sheffield at a real crossroads coming out of the 80s”.
Many scenes and locales feel nostalgic when viewed 30 years later. “Looking back, you get the sense of Sheffield in change,” adds Flitcroft.
Before the documentary was commissioned, photographer Bill Stephenson was tasked with capturing “a vibrant city that was surviving,” with his images used to storyboard and later promote the film.
As part of their investigation, he and Usborne frequented popular nightclubs such as Josephine’s and Millionaire’s Bar, as well as Park Hill and the Ingle Gym.
“I would just shoot off and wander around looking for characters,” recalls Stephenson, whose photographs will be displayed in the exhibition.
“Surviving and prospering in a city experiencing post-industrial decline […] I was seeking for persons who exemplified this way of life in early 1990s Sheffield.”
Bill StephensonUsborne describes a “blitz spirit” at Josephine’s, where several events in the film take place. “There was a genuine scene at Josephine’s in the 1980s. We arrived a little late, but there was a great champagne character; it was like a nightclub during WWII.
“It was a real moment in time that we had.” Along with Wilson, he hopes that the exhibition, which will be held at the Post Hall Gallery from October 10 to 25, would introduce Tales from a Hard City to a new audience.
“A whole new generation of Sheffield kids and beyond have never seen this film,” Wilson points out.
“It needed to happen for that reason.”
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