To Hang by a Thread

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The opportunities to do artistic endeavours at McGill University are few and not taken seriously by the school. This disconnect from the administration and what many students long for has been a frustration for many. To Hang by a Thread (2025) is a short ethnographic documentary on the costume shop of McGill University and its impact on attending students. Catherine (costume shop teacher) believes in her work so much so that she is delaying her retirement to keep the shop in service, knowing that otherwise, it would be closed, since she has no replacement and little support from the school. This touching generosity is explored through student testimonies and ethnographic filmmaking techniques. To create this piece is to show the concrete impacts of creative opportunities and spaces on students' lives and the dedication of a teacher left adrift by her establishment when trying to assure the smooth transition of the costume shop through her retirement.