Tricoter
Lynn Eldershaw | 7 min, DV | Edmonton
Tricoter (to knit) in its own sparse, minimalist style is, oddly, among the more vibrant films included on this year’s tour. Eldershaw’s first video work is simply about that small proportion of the population who pick up those needles and thread whenever they find themselves with a few sedentary moments. A series of interviews are presented, mostly with women, talking about how they came to start knitting, their long lineage of ancestral knitters (in some cases) and the sorts of things they enjoy to knit. Eldershaw intercuts these conversations while keeping her camera close to her subjects’ chests capturing all their handy work, leaving us with the rare opportunity to listen intently to what’s being said. Moreover, one of the charms of this piece is its ability to focus us on the inflections and dialects of the speakers (in fact, it can take a few seconds in some of the interviews to realize that the knitters do indeed keep appropriately referring to their “yarn” and not, as we might initially hear, their “urine.”) Finally, Tricoter is one those true delights that captures a small community of hobbyists enthusiastic in their passions, and has a patience that is rare in this age of the video documentary.
Lynn Eldershaw is a postdoctoral fellow at the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology at the University of Alberta. She is new to film initially investigating the medium as a potential tool for her research in health, illness and spirituality. Tricoter is her first production and explores the legacy of relationships that are created through the beloved craft of knitting. Lynn is presently editing a film featuring the Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche, a senior tulku in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The film presents his teachings on the cultivation of The Six Paramitas, or virtuous qualities.