Film
Six short films celebrating Derbyshire's industrial heritage
Telling stories of Derbyshire's makers
In early 2026, Derbyshire Makes History commissioned three filmmaking teams to create six new short films exploring the people, places, processes and skills behind some of Derbyshire’s most significant making industries: Textiles & Knitting, Ceramics, and Mining & Quarrying.
Working alongside heritage and industry partners across the county, the filmmakers have been researching collections, meeting workers, makers, volunteers and communities, visiting industrial and heritage sites and developing their own creative responses to Derbyshire’s remarkable history of making.
Rather than simply looking back, the films explore how this heritage continues to shape Derbyshire today – its landscapes, communities, identities and relationships with making.
Meet the filmmakers bringing Derbyshire’s industrial heritage to the screen.
Textiles & Knitting
Gomolemo (Goms) Nyakale, Aisling Ward and Connor Orton
Derbyshire-born filmmakers and artists Goms, Aisling and Connor are creating two complementary films exploring textile making through John Smedley and Masson Mills.
At John Smedley, their film follows yarn from raw fibre to finished garment, observing the skill, care and community within a factory that has navigated more than two centuries of industrial transformation. At Masson Mills, their second film moves between archive, interview and the creative community now inhabiting the building, tracing women’s labour and collective histories through the landscape of the Derwent.
Together, the films explore what it means to keep making, what remains when industrial production stops, and whose stories become part of our understanding of industrial heritage.
Ceramics
Lewis Heriz
Artist and filmmaker Lewis Heriz is creating two films exploring the relationship between ceramics, people and the changing landscape of South Derbyshire.
Combining documentary filmmaking with experimental animation, Lewis is exploring the physical qualities of clay alongside the social and industrial histories surrounding ceramics production. His developing films, Turning Over and Behind the Apple the Sphere, move between the environmental legacy of the ceramics industry and the experiences and relationships of people who continue to carry its knowledge and craft.
Lewis is working with partners including Sharpe’s Pottery Museum, The Magic Attic and Youth Landscapers, bringing contemporary and intergenerational perspectives into the films.
Mining & Quarrying
Fergus Carmichael
Derbyshire-born filmmaker Fergus Carmichael is creating two films exploring how mining and quarrying have shaped the county’s landscapes, communities and cultural identity.
T’owd Man explores the traces left by centuries of limestone extraction, following stone through contemporary quarry sites, freight routes and cement depots. At its centre is the medieval carved figure of T’owd Man at Wirksworth, connecting contemporary industry with centuries of Derbyshire’s mining history.
Bleu et Jaune follows the history, extraction, circulation and mythology of Blue John, tracing the journey of Derbyshire’s distinctive mineral from caves and caverns to collections and decorative objects far beyond the county.
Fergus is working with partners including the Treakcliff Cavern, Blue John Cavern, Technical Speleology Group, Breedon, M.s. Rau (New Orleans), Chatsworth.
Follow the films as they develop
The filmmaking process is part of the story.
Between now and the films' launch in March 2027, we'll be sharing more from each filmmaking team: behind-the-scenes stories, reflections on their research, encounters with people and places across Derbyshire, and insights into how each film is taking shape.
The commissions have been developed with support from Derby-based Animate Projects, specialists in artists' animation and moving image, who have supported the design and development of the project.
All six films will launch as part of Derbyshire Makes in March 2027, before being shared more widely with audiences across Derbyshire and online.
Derbyshire Makes History is made possible with support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players.
Derbyshire Makes History is set up to compliment the wider 3-year Derbyshire Makes programme, with an exclusive heritage focus, which is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK's heritage.