In Praise of Hands

Daehan Old Fashioned

October 2023 •English

Christian demonstrates the prep work that goes into making one of the cocktails at NARO.

LOOK & SEE: Wesley W. Bates - Wood Engraver

January 2017 •English

One of the great pleasures of working on LOOK & SEE was collaborating with artist and wood engraver Wesley W. Bates. Wesley's work has long accompanied Wendell Berry's poetry. When he agreed to provide original images for our film we were truly thrilled. Because each image involves such painstaking effort, we asked Wesley to film a block from start to finish. At two hours long, the video is a distillation of three days of his effort. And Wesley provided over ten such engravings along with the film's signature block of Wendell Berry.

A Chair Fit for an Angel

March 2014 •English

For two hundred years, the Shakers have been America's most successful utopian society. While seeking harmony, order and perfection in every aspect of their lives, they built minimalistic furniture and buildings that influenced modern design. The Shakers wrote songs of exquisite beauty and danced to the point of ecstasy during their religious meetings. Inspired by this music and dance, choreographer Tero Saarinen created Borrowed Light, a dance piece about communal life and individual sacrifice. Shot in Finland and the United States, featuring interviews and excerpts from Borrowed Light, this documentary explore the cultural legacy of this religious group devoted to creating heaven on earth.

Fortel

January 1975 •Czech

Plasticine Family

December 2016 •English

It is hard to find a family home where all the members have gone to live their separate lives in different parts of the world. Travelling between different continents, the director visits divorced parents and their new partners and also meets her sister who decided to join an alternative community. Their family exists on archival films and photographs only. Is it still possible to put it all together against all odds?

Happy

February 2012 •English

Happy is a 2011 feature documentary film directed, written, and co-produced by Roko Belic. It explores human happiness through interviews with people from all walks of life in 14 different countries, weaving in the newest findings of positive psychology. Director Roko Belic was originally inspired to create the film after producer/director Tom Shadyac (Liar, Liar, Patch Adams, Bruce Almighty) showed him an article in the New York Times entitled "A New Measure of Well Being From a Happy Little Kingdom". The article ranks the United States as the 23rd happiest country in the world. Shadyac then suggested that Belic make a documentary about happiness. Belic spent several years interviewing over 20 people, ranging from leading happiness researchers to a rickshaw driver in Kolkatta, a family living in a "co-housing community" in Denmark, a woman who was run over by a truck, a Cajun fisherman, and more.

Risking Light

March 2018 •English

Dawn Mikkelson’s Risking Light is a meditation on forgiveness, layered with a theme that is rarely seen on the screen—forgiving the unforgivable. Five years prior to making the film, Mikkelson met Mary Johnson and O’Shea Israel, a meeting she describes as a life-changing event that would lead to the development of Risking Light. It was then she learned that Johnson had chosen to forgive Israel for the murder of her son, which motivates the tone of humanistic mission in the film.

Jewelry Of India

Invalid date •English

Mother India is home to many castes, tribes and religions and one common factor that brings this diverse country all together is Jewelry. Come explore the deep history and culture of the jewelry of India dating back more than 5000 years. As we explore the history we also take you into Bangalore, India and talk to local Jewelry Stores and Jewelry Artisans as they share their stories and their family history of their involvement in jewelry going far back into their family ancestry.

Endless Letterpress

March 2019 •Spanish

Facing deteriorating machines and the advance of new technologies, Argentine printing presses are closing up their shops. A group of young designers has rediscovered this great technical innovation in the history of the written word – the typesetting printing press – but the technique is difficult to learn, passed down from master to apprentice. The last press mechanic in the country will be in charge of teaching them so that this historic technique endures.

Thrive: What on Earth Will it Take?

November 2011 •English

An unconventional documentary that lifts the veil on what's really going on in our world by following the money upstream - uncovering the global consolidation of power in nearly every aspect of our lives. Weaving together breakthroughs in science, consciousness and activism, THRIVE offers real solutions, empowering us with unprecedented and bold strategies for reclaiming our lives and our future.

The Call of the Mountain

January 1997 •English

On 1500 metres above sea level, on the slope of the mountain Hallingskarvet, stands "Tvergastein', the cabin of Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess. In his life he has spent nearly 12 years in this hut, where he wrote several books and essays on philosophy and ecology. In this film, Naess tells about the concept of 'deep ecology', which was first introduced by him in 1973. One of the basic tenets of deep ecology is that nature has a value in itself, apart from its possible use value to humans. Next to being a famous mountaineer, Naess has been a longtime activist in the environmental movement. He gives an inspiring account of his participation in blockades to prevent the Alta river in northern Norway (the area of the Sami, an indigenous people) from being dammed.

Inside The Dream: Dior

November 2023 •French

Unraveling the mystery of perfume creation, the House of Dior is opening its doors. Over the course of a year, we followed new perfumer Francis Kurkdjian in one of his greatest challenges: reinventing the iconic "J'adore". A unique sensory journey, from conception to launch, into a secret world of passionate artisans.

Yarigai

April 2023 •Dutch

Dos Antigos aos Filhos do Amanhã

May 2018 •Portuguese

Odyssey

October 2023 •English

Six California kids test their brains and talents against students in Odyssey of the Mind, a problem-solving competition requiring mechanical, creative and intellectual skills. With little money and zero adult participation, the teens build a robot to tell a story about bullying, exclusion and mental health. But how does their solution measure up?

Les Couturiers de l'Église

March 2016 •French

Round the Wirral with a Movie Camera

January 1934 •

Birkenhead's sights, shopping opportunities and industries.

Infinite Colours

November 2024 •Italian

This feature-length docu-poem shines a well deserved light on the factory workers and their processes at Stone Island’s headquarters located in Ravarino, Italy.

Takumi: A 60,000 Hour Story on the Survival of Human Craft

March 2019 •English

There is a popular theory that it takes at least 10,000 hours of focused practice for a human to become expert in any field. In Japan, there are craftspeople who go far beyond this to reach a special kind of mastery. These people are called Takumi and they devote 60,000 hours to their craft. That's 8 hours a day, 240 days a year, for over 30 years. It's an almost superhuman level of dedication to a life of repetition and no shortcuts. This film asks the question: Will human craft disappear as artificial intelligence reaches beyond our limits?

Layers of Reed

August 2024 •English

Deep in the heart of the Waveney valley, Master Thatcher Nick and his apprentice Olly work on the ancient roofs of east anglia. Keeping the craft alive, they challenge modern practices, following long standing traditional methods using local materials. This film accompanies them over a short day in their working lives, following their methods & musings and uncovering the ‘truth on the roof’.