PART OF THE CRUSADER MILL COLLECTION

A knitted animation marking the event of a fire at Crusader Mill in February 2017. Crusader Mill was at the time occupied by several knitwear factories and also two artists studios, all of whom were under threat following the purchase of the building by developers Capital and Centric in November 2015. The fire broke out in the 1st floor Dream Knitwear, but thankfully the building was empty and the sprinklers kicked in to contain the blaze. The fire was apparently started deliberately, but no charges were ever brought against anyone. The blaze itself occured against the backdrop of an ongoing tenancy dispute between the owners (C&C) and the knitwear factory, whose lease had been cancelled  months before, and the unit locked up by the C&C's site management. With the factory owner unable to run his business, or even retrieve his equipment or stock, he had begun legal proceedings to sue the developers and site management.

The film was shot two weeks after the fire, and finally edited in July 2019. The flame shapes were cut from OSB board left by developers after their rebranding of the 2016 Rogue Open Studios event, and then covered with traditional fairisle patterns.

Selected Screenings

27th November - 1st December 2019 @ ANILOGUE International Animation Festival, Budapest, Hungary