FILM-MAKER Louise Hamill will see her work in lights this week after she made a documentary about the fight to save a popular theatre from demolition.

She was given the opportunity to make a 15-minute film after she was awarded a £500 bursary from Northern Architecture, and chose to feature Billingham Forum.

Her film will be premiered at 7.30pm tonight at the Side Cinema, in Newcastle, as part of the Windows Wide Open Festival, and will be shown on Teesside on Thursday.

Miss Hamill, 45, from Billingham, won the bursary after she made a five-minute film for last year's festival about the Transporter Bridge.

Organisers were so impressed they invited her to bid for financial help, and she was one of four to be selected.

She said: "I decided to make the film on the Billingham Forum because there was quite a lot of feeling in Billingham about the forum and the threats to demolish it.

"The forum was something I have cared about and I was opposed to them demolishing it. For me, it was the architecture that I liked so much.

"At the time it was built, it was a very significant development, and I think people have forgotten that."

The forum won a reprieve after it was given listed building status.

The film will be shown at the University of Teesside Innovation Centre, in Middlesbrough, at 6.30pm on Thursday as part of its cultural distinctiveness and the built environment project. Entry is free.

Published: 21/06/2005