The Film of the Film of the Film

A double, double take on the art of making amateur movies in a 50th anniversary celebration for the Newcastle and District ACA.

Just like watching the making of a movie in a hall of mirrors. This hilarious parody of Hollywood film trailers introduces the 50th anniversary of the Newcastle and District Amateur Cinematographers Association by filming a BBC North East film crew filming the cine club film crew shooting scenes from an amateur production on the Gateshead Quayside – then filming the broadcast of the BBC TV documentary on the Newcastle ACA called ‘Moviemakers Special’. Confused?

This novelty short is the brainchild of Michael Gough, Head of Education Services for the Hearing-Impaired in Sunderland, also one of the actors pictured in this scene from a Newcastle ACA production. His wife Linda Gough was behind the camera at the location set up as the BBC Look North crew recorded the club’s film shoot for a half hour documentary broadcast in 1977, a tribute to a cine club whose members had been producing their own films since 1927, now a sole survivor of the first five amateur clubs formed in Britain.