Visible Mending: BAFTA Short Film All About Knitting
Visible Mending is a powerful animated short film discussing how we repair ourselves through knitting, even when we can’t be fully mended.
This beautiful short film is one of two runners up at this year’s BAFTAs for Best Short Animation, and it’s entirely hand knitted.
Visual Mending is a seamless stop motion, which expertly untangles our relationship with knitting for healing purposes.
As a documentary-style film, it’s inspired by real events and features everyday knitters just like us. Director Samantha Moore taught herself to knit following her mother’s dementia diagnosis, which caused her mother to lose most of her own knitting skills.
Samantha became fascinated by “the immense power it has as a kind of solace.”
It all began with curiosity and a bus trip to her local library in Shrewsbury where she searched for a local knitting group. Director Samantha Moore and her team then she spent three years collating “incredible stories” from local knitters and wanted to do something with them.
They were awarded a commission from the BFI Short Form Animation Fund to make Visible Mending, and the film was produced by Tilley Bancroft through MediaActive Projects.
The creators spoke candidly with knitters about their personal and emotional ties to the craft. In the final short film, each narrator is portrayed by their own adorable knitted character.
Director Moore said that the nomination was a “massive validation” for all those involved. She is now hoping to explore the healing power of knitting in a longer format.
You can also watch the making of Visible Mending in the video below.
The other nominations were Wild Summon, an animation following the life cycle of a salmon in human-form, and winner Crab Day, which follows a young boy who must kill his first crab as part of his fishing community’s annual ritual that will make him a man.
Read more from our lifestyle section
