Back in February, we commissioned Ali Al-Jamri’s first film, The Legend of the Looms. Fusing poetry, film, and textiles, Ali traced cross-cultural threads between  handloom weaving and revolution.

Legend of the Looms featured a narrative debate poem between two handloom weavers: one from the North West, where weavers were critical in working class movements around the Peterloo Massacre of 1819; the other from Bahrain, where weaving communities were pivotal in twentieth century reform movements.

The ghostly weavers debated whose life was harder, whose struggles were fiercer, whose folk poetry better, before finding common ground and friendship. Filmed with the weavers of Ali’s  family in Bahrain, and a historic weaver’s cottage in Rossendale Valley, Legend delicately danced between place, fact and folklore, and created a new myth that explores how people of the diaspora can relate to an unlikely new landscape through the interconnectivity of oppressions, craft, and mortality. The film was exhibited in installation format alongside the featured textiles, for which Al-Jamri worked with renowned Manchester-based textile artist Ibukun Baldwin.

We hosted the exhibition’s Open Day at the Blackburn Museum on 1st February. Starting with a premiere of the film, we then had the opportunity to discuss its contents with Ali. In the latter half of the day was a weaving workshop with Ibukun Baldwin, where we learnt basic weaving skills to create a collaborative piece from recycled materials. Altogether, the Open Day was a fantastic way to engage with the film’s textiles- it not only allowed us to physically interact with the textiles of the project, but also transformed handloom weaving from a distant historical practice into an immediate tactile experience.

The film installation was exhibited at Blackburn Museum, with the British Textile Biennial, from 1 February – 8 March. This work is supported by Arts Council England and The Freelands Foundation.

Project Credits

Writer and producer: Ali Al-Jamri
Film director and producer: Ricardo Vilela
Curator: Jessica El Mal
Additional footage: Mohammed Jassim
Textile creation: Ibukun Baldwin and Banijamra Textile Factory

About the Artists 

Ali Al-Jamri is a Bahraini-British poet, writer, editor, translator, and teacher. He holds the distinction of being an inaugural Manchester Multilingual City Poet from 2022 to 2024. His poetry, translation, non-fiction, and prose have found publication in esteemed platforms including Modern Poetry in Translation, ArabLit Quarterly, The Markaz Review, Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, Harana, Rowayat, and anthologies released by Young Identity. His work has been showcased in events like Manchester’s Festival of Libraries, the Manchester Poetry Library, Longsight Art Space etc. He edited Between Two Islands: Poetry by Bahrainis in Britain and ArabLit Quarterly: FOLK, both in 2021. Dedicated to both English and education, he has contributed works to three anthologies for English teachers published by HarperCollins. You can see more of Ali’s work on this link: https://alialjamri.com/

Ricardo Vilela is an award-winning independent filmmaker, director and cinematographer based in Manchester, UK, for over 30 years, under the name of Sagitta Media. He has been working nationally and internationally, across filmmaking, live streaming, multi camera production and immersive media with a strong focus on the creative industries. Amongst others, his work has been recognised by The Royal Television Society, The Manchester Culture Awards and The Edinburgh Festival.

Mohammed Jassim is a Bahraini filmmaker. His 2023 film Bar Saar was the Winner of the Golden Palm for Best GCC Documentary at Saudi Film Festival, Best Bahraini Short Film at the Bahrain Film Festiva, Best Subject (Documentary) at Tangier Film Festival (Morocco) and the Jury Award, Aldhahirah International Film Festival (Oman).