THE Guardian movie critic once praised a film from Amber Films, noting it had been made by "a bunch of nobodies from Newcastle".

Most film-makers would have been insulted but the people at Amber took it as a compliment. Anonymity is their middle name. The credits for their films - and they've been making documentary and features in the North-East for more than 30 years - is a list of everyone involved. There are no individual credits.

For the purposes of launching their latest project Like Father, several members of the collective broke cover to talk about the film in a pub near their production offices in The Side. The alcoholic connection is apt as the firm was named after an old local brew called Amber Ale.

Like Father, a film about three generations in a old mining community in East Durham, won't break any box-office records as only a handful of prints are going the rounds, but this is Amber's biggest budget film to date at £600,000.

After the success of Dream On, Channel 4 promised a larger budget for the next film - on condition they could put in their own writer. The offer was politely refused as Amber's working methods are different to those of other film-makers. A suggestion from backers to use Truly Madly Deeply actress Juliet Stevenson in a film received a "no" as well.

A project begins with character rather than plot. Amber use a mix of professional and non-professional actors. The three leading male performers in Like Father had never acted before. A film can take as long as three years to complete with research, filming and editing occupying 12 months each.

They have resisted outside pressures, adhering to the Amber philosophy of reflecting the lives of working class communities in the North-East through film and photography.

Amber film-maker Ellin Hare sees Like Father as very much a companion piece of The Scar. "That commented on the roles of miners' wives," she says. "This time we decided we wanted to concentrate on the men. In the beginning the men were more reluctant but we went back to them and did interviews with ex-miners."

What emerged was a drama about three generations of a family called Elliot. The name was chosen because it's a famous North-East mining name, with Jack Elliot being a famous miner's leader.

Comedian Ned Kelly was cast as the grandfather, Arthur Elliot, an ex-miner and pigeon man fighting council plans to development his allotment that would mean the removal of his pigeon lofts.

The real life story of Ryehope allotment holders resisting change helped inspire this aspect of the drama. One of them, Jackie Surtees, appears in the film.

Joe Armstrong was cast as Joe Elliot, a 40-year-old ex-miner scraping a living teaching and performing in clubs. He says the character was based on his own experiences. "He comes from that generation of men in their forties. We spent months following him around in his real life and were struck by his story. When we asked if we could use it for a character, he said, 'will you give me the chance to play it?'."

The third lead role goes to Jonathon Dent, only ten when filming began three years ago. He plays young Michael Elliot, Joe's son who's trying to find a place in a community struggling to survive mine closures.

"Rather than do interviews with children, we did a drama workshop over the summer. Jonathon was one of the kids who came along," says Hare.

The length of the shoot did cause one problem - his voice broke, although they were able to rectify that in the dubbing stages. Another actor, Brian Hogg, broke his leg before completing his role so in his final scenes he was shot from the waist up. "I really like their methods because you are part of the overall thing," says Hogg. "You're not just in for a couple of days, learn your lines and go away. You're part and parcel of the whole project."

As Like Father opens, Amber's already busy on the next project - a drama series for Channel 4. Hare says: "It's very early in the one year development. It could turn out to be about anything."

A film about anything from nobodies, you could say.

Like Father (15) is showing at Newcastle Tyneside Cinema until June 21; Robins cinema, Durham, on June 26 and 27; and Customs House, South Shields, on June 29.

Published: 15/06/2001