A FASCINATING film by a talented Tynedale film maker has just scooped Best Documentary at the national Into Film Awards 2018 in London.

Prudhoe High School teenager, Amy Jobe, was director on the film, Still Life, which is based around the work of the late photographer, Tish Murtha, who captured what life was like on the run-down estates of Elswick in Newcastle's west end during the late seventies and early eighties.

Amy, who lives in Ovington, and her fellow film makers, Rowan Hodgson, Rebecca Burgess and Freya Tarn-Chapman, were celebrating on Tuesday after winning their category which was sponsored by Paramount Pictures.

The team were all members of the Northern Stars Documentary academy at the Tyneside Cinema, an annual project which offers training and skills development to some of the North East's most promising young move makers. It is funded by, amongst others, intu - the company behind Eldon Square and Metrocentre.

Still Life uses Murtha's evocative photographs as the basis of a fascinating documentary which catches up with the subjects of these iconic images.

Into Film said the filmmakers had used contemporary images of the area that demonstrated how much - and how little - has changed since Murtha's original project.

Amy (17) said she was delighted with the film's success. "The struggles of our region in just recent history are often forgotten", she said. "We are honoured to be able to shine a light on the hardships of the people of the west end of Newcastle and exhibit the work of Tish Murtha, an extraordinary female photographer whose work defied the gender roles imposed on her. This opportunity and chance to have our incredibly hard work recognised means so much to us.

"We are all incredibly proud to be from the North East of England and are enthusiastic to represent the bustling film scene we come from."

Tish's daughter, Ella, who recently published Youth Unemployment, a book of her mother's work, said she was thrilled the film had won, particularly as Tuesday, March 13 was the fifth anniversary of Tish's death.

"I have been crying happy tears today," she told the Courant. "And I think my mam would be really, really happy that these young people have got this opportunity."

Amy first came across Tish's photographs through her mum, Tara, who herself grew up in Elswick, where her parents - Amy's grandparents - still live.

"I don't think, as a young person I really understood when she would tell me about Elswick, the extent of the poverty and the desperation," Amy said.

"At the Tyneside Cinema, we started brainstorming ideas and I talked about Ella Murtha, who had just released Youth Unemployment.

"It is full of such evocative photographs where the kids look so happy in this desolate environment. In my head I thought, 'how much has that affected their later lives?"

Amy's mentor at the Tyneside, Hannah McParlin contacted Ella who was very supportive of the film.