PURELY BELTER
Dir. Mark Herman, 2000.
United Kingdom. 95 min.
In Geordie with English subtitles.

MONDAY,  MAY 4th - 7:30PM
THURSDAY, MAY 14th - 10PM
MONDAY, MAY 25th - 10PM

The exploits of Gerry and Sewel, two down-and-out teens trying to raise £1000 to buy season tickets to their favourite football team, Newcastle United. 

PURELY BELTER  is a film that feels inseparable from the place it comes from. Set firmly in and around Newcastle, the film captures the rhythm of everyday life on Tyneside, a world of tower blocks, back alleys, and football obsession.

What gives PURELY BELTER its unmistakable flavour is its unapologetic embrace of Geordie culture. The title itself comes from Geordie slang: “pure” meaning very, and “belter” meaning brilliant. The film revels in the sounds of Newcastle, thick Geordie accents and dialogue so regional that some screenings reportedly handed out glossaries to help non-locals decode terms like “howay” and “radgie.” This commitment to dialect is part of the film’s charm. Even the film’s cameo from Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer adds to the sense that the story belongs completely to the city and its footballing culture.

Underneath the humour, though, lies a streak of social realism that makes the film more than just a football comedy. Gerry and Sewell grew up surrounded by broken families, poverty, and limited opportunities. PURELY BELTER balances this bleak backdrop with the resilient spirit of its characters: football becomes an escape, a dream that briefly lifts them above the grind of everyday life. For many Geordies, PURELY BELTER is a Newcastle classic, endlessly quoted in schoolyards, even if it never quite received the same recognition beyond the city. In that sense, the film itself feels like a Geordie phrase: rough around the edges, full of heart, and, in its own way, PURELY BELTER.