Shrewsbury animator turns knitting passion into Bafta nomination

An animator who has been nominated for a Bafta for her short film about knitting has said she feels passionate about the work.

Samantha Moore from Shropshire said she took up knitting herself when her mother was diagnosed with dementia.

Her film, Visible Mending, explores the comfort it can bring.

She spent three years speaking to local knitters before making the film and said she wanted to "do something with these incredible stories".

Ms Moore, who lives in Shrewsbury, said it all started when her mother began to lose her knowledge of knitting when she was suffering from early onset dementia.

"During her decline I sort of taught myself to knit and realised the immense power it has as a kind of solace," she explained.

Ms Moore said her film began with a bus trip to Shrewsbury Library to find where local knitting groups met, and she then visited knitters in Church Stretton and recorded their stories.

After three years she received funding for the animation, which she said took another two years to finish.

"It was a project where it started off tiny and it got bigger," she said.

The announcement that she was one of three nominees in Bafta's Best Short Animation category was made on Thursday.

She said she was in a meeting at the time and had to make an excuse to leave the room to check and said the nomination was a "massive validation" for her and her team.

Ms Moore, who teaches at the Royal College of Art in London, said next she wanted to explore the healing power of knitting in a longer film.

She also said she wanted to make a film about a 17th Century botanical illustrator.

The Bafta awards ceremony will be held on 18 February and will be screened on BBC TV.

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