Belle Vue produces innovative film content and creative research for cultural & heritage organisations. We help those we work with connect and understand their audiences in new ways. We create informative and engaging media for a range of platforms: AV installations for exhibitions; online and social media campaigns; and for internal evaluation and research. Our films enable communities and cultural organisations to share their stories, tell the world about what they do and why it matters.
Filming on location at Calke Abbey National Trust, Derbyshire in 2022 for Everywhere and Nowhere. From left, Sophie Everest, Ben Knowles, Andy Hardman and artist, Christopher Samuel. Image credit: Sarah Plumb.
We've been making films for museums since 2013. We have worked with The Barbican, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester City Council, Manchester Museum, The Museum of the Home, National Museums Liverpool, The National Trust, Royal Holloway University London, The University of Manchester and The Whitworth on projects funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Arts Council England, Churches Conservation Trust, National Lottery Heritage Fund and The Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Our team are creatives with professional experience in broadcast TV, interpretation design and digital media production. As researchers we specialise in culture and the arts, museum practice, historical research and audience engagement.
We have experience of working with schools and communities with special needs and our staff are trained in safeguarding and DBS checked.
Sophie Everest made the move ten years ago from TV production at the BBC to producing films for museums. She is passionate about the ability of film to bring life to museum objects and tell stories about the past that make an impact on today’s audiences. Sophie also lectures in filmmaking practice at the University of Manchester.
Andy Hardman has a track record of successfully delivering complex, multi-partnered productions on time and on budget. Besides his production work, he lectures in cultural practice at the University of Manchester and has published research on film and museum practice.
Kieran Hanson is a freelance documentary filmmaker and lecturer in film-practice, with more than 10 years experience in the UK, China and Sierra Leone. His specialisation is in visual ethnography and creative collaborations with artists and social researchers. He has taught film-practice and audio-visual research methods on the MA Visual Anthropology, MA History and BA Film Studies at the University of Manchester and at the University of Yunnan.
Benjamin Knowles is a historian and filmmaker, shooting and directing documentaries for the BBC, ITV, Channel Five and Sky. His academic research focuses on memorialisation and modern British history.
Nick Mattingly is an award-winning observational documentary filmmaker, shooting and directing series for BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4 and BBC 4 – creating compelling stories from both the extraordinary and the everyday.
Belle Vue is a corporate member of the Museums Association.