Laurie (1978)
Amber Films
Film and Video
A documentary film about South Shields born, self-taught sculptor Laurie Wheatley producing a sculpture of a welder.
Mai (1973)
Amber Films
Mai (1973)
Amber Films
A film portrait of the eccentric and obsessive collector Mai Finglass - landlady to founder Amber members Murray Martin and Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, when students in London.
- Film and Video
- Portraits
- UK Documentary
- 1968 – 1979
- UK
Amber Films, 30 mins, 1974
A personal portrait of the eccentric and obsessive collector Mai Finglass, landlady to founder Amber members Murray Martin and Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, when students in London. Initiated as a student project whilst Martin and Konttinen were studying film and photography at Regents Street Polytechnic in the late 1960s, it was completed in 1974.
Martin & Konttinen had lodgings in Shepherds Bush with Mai, who was born to Irish-Persian parents in India around 1890. Mai’s house in Elgin Avenue was filled with her treasures to the point where doors were permanently jammed, so she rented a house in Shepherds Bush, where the kitchen was shared with a family of hedgehogs.
Mai was an "eccentric collector", particularly of dolls, a truly unique character, Konttinen later suggested, "All the Amber men were in love with Mai."
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© Amber Films
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Related Works
Maybe (1969)
Amber Films
Film and Video
A student documentary about the Shields Ferry on the River Tyne and its engine man. Made by founder members Murray Martin and Graham Denman, it is recognised as the first Amber work.
