Dorking Radical Film Festival – Close Knit

Close Knit is an animated documentary which takes a warm and poignant look at the richness and diversity of life in South East Northumberland. Considering what makes a Close Knit community, the film takes an imaginative leap to look at life beyond the mining industry. The film was co-produced by multigenerational communities working with animator Sheryl Jenkins, and Dorking based artists Alison Carlier and Amanda Loomes, along with Museums Northumberland and producer Bridie Jackson. Amanda and Alison worked with the community, gathering stories which formed the soundtrack for this remarkable animated documentary.

Close Knit was inspired by community member Carole Fife, who entertained people with knitted window displays during lockdown. Amanda and Alison quickly realised that many people had stories about knitting and these became the creative catalyst for the project. Close Knit recognises the radical potential of creativity to bring communities together.

Artist Information

ALISON CARLIER

The core of Alison’s practice sits with language; how it is understood or experienced. Language may be spoken, sound or text based, often referencing music and the everyday. For the last ten years, since winning the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2014 with a sound piece, Alison has been making audio drawings that combine spoken or sung utterances, field recordings and music to immerse the listener. In 2018, Alison made The Calling, an experimental, participatory performance, where tiny voices, like angels, sang composition based on a piece by Vaughan Williams, in call and response on Boxhill. Alison is currently collaborating with Neuropsychologist, Dr Jennifer Foley, on the knowledge exchange project, Trellis Arbor for UCL. They are creating a soundscape working with a community of people living with young onset Parkinson’s and a professional timpanist.

AMANDA LOOMES
Amanda Loomes is an artist working with experimental documentary. She engages communities to make film and audio works that consider collective human endeavour. She often wonders what future societies will make of us. Amanda has exhibited widely in the UK including Jerwood Space, London and with HOUSE and Photoworks as part of Brighton Festival. In 2018 Amanda exhibited two films about the about the sandpits of the Surrey Hills as part of Surrey Unearthed. During 2019 her landmark film installation The Custody Code toured to Alice Holt Forest as part of the Forestry Commission’s centenary celebrations. In her solo exhibition Formation Level at Aspex Gallery Portsmouth, she explored the labour and materials embedded in roads. She is currently President of The London Group, one of the UK’s oldest artists’ collectives.

Estimated run time: 30 minute film followed by Artists & Guerilla Knitter Talks