Based in Hull, Northern Films Ltd part of the InterTech Media Group is a production company focused on making high quality factual dramas and programming. Boasting the latest in CGI, green screen and film technology, the business was initially set up to create a variety of local television, film and drama programmes for a regional audience – offering a voice to marginalised groups and telling stories at a community level.  

Founder and owner, Andrew Fenton, alongside his team of highly qualified film professionals are proud of their local area, but are also interested in attracting companies from hubs like London, who can hire their personnel, kit and filming spaces. The studio is quite a unique proposition in the area, with filmmakers needing to travel as far as Leeds to find anything similar. John Levison, executive producer at the production company, has said the formation of the studios creates a turnkey solution for marketing and advertising agencies and filmmakers. With fully equipped studios ready to go and an exceptional team of experts with years of experience behind them, Northern Films are well-placed to offer industry giants the opportunity to expand their reach.  

And now with plans approved for a new 19,700sq ft soundstage building which would sit next to the company’s existing studio in Saltmarsh Court on Priory Park Hull. The development will also include dressing rooms, office space and temporary accommodation for visiting film crews as part of the main building as well as a standalone joinery and fabrication workshop. 

Telling local stories through the medium of film

With the existing and approved new studio we hope this will shine a light on the often-overlooked industries, jobs and people based in the north of the country, Northern Films has produced a number of features that focus on a more inclusive narrative. The Last Trip is just over a two-hour long feature film that brings together Hull’s fishing history, local actors and an element of CGI to deliver a poignant reminder of what was once a thriving sector. The memorial to the region’s lost fishermen was initially outlined as a short film with a comedy element to it, but soon grew into a comprehensive and thoughtful consideration of the much-admired industry and the losses it has suffered over the years. The film is interspersed with plenty of period details, with the younger fishermen played by locals and well-known figures, such as the former Archbishop of York, The Most Revd. Dr John Sentamu, and ex-MPs John Prescott and Alan Johnson all making appearances. The film is a tribute to generations of courageous trawler men who sailed from Hull to fish in the freezing waters of the Arctic.