Reviews of Cherry Colour Buttonholes

"We loved this. The choice to focus the camera on the hands only (as opposed to the whole women or the room) was inspired - almost as if the viewer herself was peering through a buttonhole!”

“The close up shots of the stitching are superb. The cross dissolves echoing the conversation.”

“Lyrical, patient, supportive and indirect giving plenty of room and space for the viewer to enjoy each buttonhole.”

“Excellent poetic piece. A beautiful considered celebration of the female stitch and tradition of needlewomen swapping stories, techniques, tips and memories interwoven with the threads of collaboration and community. A lovely example of one art form (film) illuminating another (needlework)."

Reviews added to the Stitching Together and Film Geographies websites April 2021:

1. I really liked the visual focus on the hands, the thread, the needles and buttons and buttonholes. The audio was of good quality and balanced nicely with the visual narrative. Not too quiet and not dominating. Nice edits and a good length. I really liked this film. Although the subject matter was quite narrow, it was visually appealing – almost soothing to watch and listen to. The filmmaker successfully transferred the atmosphere of the volunteer gathering. The film really got to show the kinds of engagement taking place, the conversations, the activities, the making, the textures and the colours.

2. The film captures hands stitching buttonholes, but also includes the gestures that surround making such as pointing, pulling, moving, explaining…. This is a beautiful choreography of hands, showing the gestures of hands as nimble tools and as conversational guides. The detail is there, but the film maker does not dwell on the technique as might be seen in an instructional film. The film manages to convey the rhythm of the making but also the rhythm of participation. As an aside, I also think the film works well without the sound. The film documents the collective learning well (making buttonholes by hand) but goes beyond that to convey a sense of ‘being together’. This is achieved effectively through presenting this as a glimpse into the process including all the ‘other stuff’ that goes on around the making that is transmitted through the conversation, the proximity of each person sat around the table, the watching and observing what each other is doing.

The important question of gendered practice is raised I think, both because this is an all-female group, but also through the way the conversation, movements and gestures are recorded. I think this is a good film – I enjoyed it – but I’m not sure that it brings anything new to the table.

3. I found it very engaging – the filming felt professional but it wasn’t trying to be ‘a documentary’. The sound level is very low though. A very engaging capturing of the experience of making together – the movements, making, materials, chat.

4. The film starts with close up of hands at work, nice to see the depiction as an intimate portrait. The film is a commentary about the making and dives into the memories of the participants and personal stories. Very thorough description of the methodology is very useful in understanding the aims of the research. It does offer an insight into the process of making and uses film to communicate that while still using the moving image to the cultures of everyday life using techniques of experimental filmmaking to create new ways of seeing the world around us.

5. Lots of close ups of hands sewing cut together by soft fades. No faces shown. I didn’t feel engaged with the various conversations as quite often there is a lot of background noise making it hard to focus on one voice