In Brief
I’m a writer, photographer, and documentary producer. After gaining my (joint honours) degree in Film and Media, I worked in the media industry for a while before leaving to set up the business I run with my partner: Lonely Tower Film & Media. As well as writing educational pieces about the visual practices of photography and video, I’m also the author of three history books: Sunderland Industrial Giant (The History Press, 2017), Secret Sunderland (Amberley Publishing 2019), and Celebrating Sunderland (Amberley Publishing 2023).
I write pieces about heritage, culture, and place – you can read recent articles in publications like This England (example above), The Northern Echo, and LandScape magazine.
I often give talks about my work, most recently these have included talks on Sunderland history, and one about my work for the 2024 International Women’s Day event at Bishop Auckland Town Hall.
More About Marie
Films
We produce documentaries about history, place, and culture: a mix of self-produced feature length films, and commissioned films from history groups, councils etc for exhibition. Some recently produced (or in production) documentaries:
- Over The Horizon: North Shields 800. (In Production – TBR 2025)
- Iron & Steam: The Dawn of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. (Completed – TBR 2024)
- Hollowed Ground: The People of the Durham Coalfield. (2023)
- The Hetton Legacy: The Railway, Collieries and Community 1822 – 2022. (2022)
- A Passion for Vaux, Sunderland’s Lost Brewery. (2022)
Here’s a short from one of the films we currently have in production, ‘Over The Horizon.’
Exhibitions
March 2024 – Durham County Council – International Women’s Day Exhibition – Bishop Auckland Town Hall
As part of the She Shall Be Called Woman exhibition for International Women’s Day on March 8th, I created a soundscape to accompany a photographic display by photographer Elaine Vizor. The soundscape demonstrates the complexity at play between individuals and the physical landscape they inhabit, shaping both the people and their environment. Featuring women’s voices and evocative music and environmental sounds, A Sense of Place is about 6 different women and their connection to the North Pennines, from a life-long connection as a visitor, to the daily joys and struggles of working the land.
2022 – Sunderland City Council – Pyrex 100 – Museum and Winter Gardens
To mark 100 years of Pyrex production in Sunderland, we were commissioned to make a short film about glass making in Sunderland, with a focus on Pyrex and its workers, using newly-conducted interviews, and archival resources like photo and video.
2018 – Sunderland City Council – Port 300 – Museum and Winter Gardens
We created a short film about the Port of Sunderland and its history, which was screened as part of a wider exhibition at Sunderland’s Museum and Winter Gardens.
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