Film company holds out job hopes for steelworkers

The stage play Iniquity (Camwedd) has been adapted into a screenplay after stage performances at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in 2022

A move to the film industry could be an option for some steelworkers in Port Talbot faced with mass job cuts.

A new production company plans to make a movie about the life of Dic Penderyn, who is believed to have been wrongfully hanged in 1831 for his part in the Merthyr Rising and is buried in Port Talbot.

Calon Films said it wants to create local job opportunities at a time of great uncertainty for those employed at the steelworks.

Bafta-nominated director Chris Crow said its aim was to bring together a "world-class creative team" to tell an "extremely important story".

Bridgend College will provide training for roles such as on-set carpenters, electricians and film grips and a bid will be made to the Tata transition board for additional funding.

The film, Iniquity (Camwedd in Welsh), will tell the story of Richard Lewis, better known as Dic Penderyn.

Riots broke out after ironworkers felt badly treated by their masters and families were unable to afford food.

A soldier was stabbed in the leg and despite not being able to identify his attacker, Richard Lewis was charged with assault. He was executed at Cardiff gaol.

It is believed his final words were, "Oh lord, this is iniquity".

The film will form part of a wider campaign to get him posthumously pardoned.

The BBC's The Way was filmed in Port Talbot and showed rioting break out when steelworkers become concerned over the future of their jobs

Calon Flims co-founder Stuart Broad said casting was yet to take place but there is an ambition to attract big names.

"We’ve signed an option with Sterling Pictures to make the movie and we're in the process of raising the finance. If we manage it, I'm firmly of the mindset Welsh cinema will be remembered for it."

Bridgend College has agreed a partnership to provide training for roles where skills can be transferred from the steel industry to the film sector.

Aberavon and Maesteg MP Stephen Kinnock said it was important that a variety of future employment opportunities open up for those affected by steel cuts.

"There's no doubt in my mind there are men and women in the steelworks who could make the transition to something like the film industry."

Steelworker Paul Wagstaffe says a move to the creative industries would be of interest to him.

Paul Wagstaffe is one of thousands of Tata employees and contractors who will not have a job at the steelworks by the end of the year.

"I’d be interested in a job with the film industry, either as a set builder or even in the background as an actor or something like that," he said.

"We don’t know if there’ll be work for us for another few months, so [we] have to turn our hands to something different and look at different avenues," he said.

Another steelworker, Aled Humphries, who is also part of Port Talbot's amateur dramatics scene, said: "If the future of heavy industry is you require better technology and less people to produce the same quality and volume of product, then that’s just a fact of life.

"We’ll then need to find other opportunities for people and what better way than for Port Talbot to look towards the creative industries."

This mural depicts the story of Dic Penderyn and the Merthyr Rising on a wall in Aberavon

Port Talbot-born millionaire businessman, Sir Christopher Evans, has also thrown his support behind the project.

“It's a great story and one that deserves to be told the world-over," he said.

He said the making of the film offers people a "the chance of hope" during "bleak" times and will "continue Port Talbot's unique legacy with Hollywood".

Welsh actress Karen Paullada said she would love to play a part in a film based on the true story of a man from her family's hometown.

"I don’t think many people, like myself, know about this history and what happened and putting it on screen will help people become aware of what happened," she said.

"It’s a true story and people love true stories because it makes it more exciting and intriguing."

"It would be great to be involved in something as well that could hopefully help this community, especially as my grandfather was a steelworker."