“Sampler quilts” are by nature an amalgamation of different patterned blocks, techniques, and experiments created by a quilter. Seemingly though each block is disparate in their qualities, they are held together by the container and boundaries of the quilt itself—the top, the back, and the batting and quilt work holding each block together.

Bay Area Sampler Quilt attempts to consider how a film can be like a quilt.
 

How can built-in camera techniques, repetitions through contact printing, dying processes and other experiments employed mimic what a quilter might do in assembling their work? How can each frame be like a quilt block, expressing a different register of creative expression? And lastly, how can a film act as a container, holding both experimental forms, memories, and a documentation of social relations? 

This film is part of the Print Generations initiative by Canyon Cinema.

Oral History Booklet with participants.