Tales from a Hard City exhibition to open in Sheffield

Thirty years ago a documentary following the fortunes of four people with big dreams in post-industrial Sheffield was released to critical acclaim.

Tales from a Hard City could be described as a tragicomedy. While humour was the intention of its creators, struggle is a strong theme.

The 1995 film’s main characters fall flat in their attempts to become actors, performers and music moguls – though their participation in the documentary was where their quest for stardom peaked.

Still, their admirable efforts earned it a dedicated following, and now it is hoped the opening of an exhibition about the documentary, will give it a new lease of life.

Tales from a Hard City was the brainchild of Kim Flitcroft and Alex Usborne. The friends had previously made two other films about Sheffield’s thriving boxing scene: Brendan’s Boys, based on the legendary Ingle Gym, and Johnny Fantastic, following the career of world champion Johnny Nelson.

Those films helped provide the spark and even some characters for their next project, recalls Usborne, who grew up in the Steel City and witnessed its industrial decline.

One day, while standing outside the Ingle Gym in Wincobank, he noticed the Lower Don Valley – previously the beating heart of Sheffield’s steel industry – resembling a “wasteland”. In the distance, Meadowhall shopping centre was being built.

“There was this notion that Sheffield would regenerate through shopping, media, sport and celebrity,” Usborne says.

Flitcroft recalls seeing building work “everywhere we were going” as regeneration gathered pace.

To that end, Tales from a Hard City was “about a moment in time” for the city and its people, says Usborne.

“It was looking for stories that were about a reinvention.”

The film was several years in the making. Four years after the idea was coined, filming took place in 1993 during construction of the city’s tram network – another transitionary phase for the city.

Its eventual release came two years later.

The documentary is centred around the ups and downs of four people trying to reinvent themselves; Glen is a self-confessed petty thief who dreams of a music career, ex-boxer Paul now wants to become an actor, while entrepreneur Wayne spots an opportunity to reinvent single mum Sarah as a performer after her dancing in a Greek bar saw her arrested and thrown in jail, causing a tabloid stir back home.

“Sarah might not be the world’s best dancer, Glen not the world’s best singer, and Paul not the world’s best actor, but they were having a go,” says Flitcroft.

“I admired what they were doing.”

For Flitcroft, part of the film’s enduring appeal is its memorable characters.

“People engage with these characters and they generally like them and find them good company.

“That was certainly my experience with them, I enjoyed being with them.”

Comedy was also central to their appeal, with each one providing several standout scenes for the viewer.

“Every scene we are going for laughs,” says Usborne, who still lives in his home city.

All the while, the film “very much captures Sheffield at a real crossroads coming out of the 80s”, according to archivist Alex Wilson, who has helped curate the upcoming exhibition as part of the No Bounds festival.

Viewed 30 years later, many scenes and locations have a nostalgic quality to them.

“Looking back, you get the sense of Sheffield in change,” says Flitcroft.

Before the documentary was commissioned, photographer Bill Stephenson was enlisted to capture “a vibrant city which was surviving”, with his photos used to help storyboard and later promote the project.

As part of their research, he and Usborne became regulars at nightlife hotspots like Josephine’s and Millionaire’s Bar, as well as Park Hill and the Ingle Gym.

“I would just shoot off and wander around looking for characters,” says Stephenson, whose photos will feature in the exhibition.

“Surviving and flourishing in a city which was in post-industrial decline […] I was looking for people who epitomized this type of life in early 90s Sheffield.”

Usborne recalls a “blitz spirit” in Josephine’s, where several scenes in the film take place.

“There was a real scene in Josephine’s in the 80s. We were a bit late to it but there was a real champagne character; the nightclub in World War Two, that sort of vibe.

“It was a real moment in time that we had.”

Along with Wilson, he hopes the exhibition, which will run at the Post Hall Gallery from 10 to 25 October, will help Tales from a Hard City find a new audience.

“A whole new generation of Sheffield kids and beyond have never seen this film,” says Wilson.

“It needed to happen for that reason.”