Blockbuster movie has them in stitches

Sep 15 2007 by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post

IT’S a romance that will have some Liverpudlians in stitches this weekend, despite the plot not being remotely funny.

The Oscar-tipped movie, Atonement, is to have a special one-off screening this afternoon , at an event where people are being encouraged to bring their knitting.

The city's first “knit-flick” has been organised by Picturehouse cinema at FACT, and, based on evidence from social observers, knitting has become the hip new hobby for younger women.

The Ritzy Picturehouse in London already has regular screenings of movies where avid “knit-wits” are invited to bring along their wool and needles.

Now Picturehouse at FACT, in Wood Street, is to become the first cinema outside the capital to follow suit.

Marketing manager Jan Carlyle said: “Knitting is fast becoming a pastime for a new social group of urban professional women in their 20s and 30s.

“Accountants are doing it, solicitors are doing it, Julia Roberts is doing it – even some men are doing it!”

Atonement, starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, is adapted from Ian McEwan’s Booker Prize-nominated novel of the same name, in which a 13-year-old irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.

“We chose this because it’s a nice period drama which will appeal to lots of people although I think it is fair to say that it’s more of a female film than one for the men,” said Jan, who confessed that she used to love knitting, but finds that she is too busy to do it now that she has become a mother.

If the first screening is a success, Picturehouse at FACT plans to have other knit-flick screenings on a bi-monthly basis.

She added: “Everyone is welcome, even non-knitters but they’ll have to be prepared for brighter lighting, and, of course, the click of knitting needles.”

The Atonement knit-flick, certificate 15, shows at 3.30pm today, tickets £5.50. Free tea or coffee will be available in the FACT bar afterwards.

mikechapple