Friday, June 27

10E2371: American Hand

"American Hand is a documentary series [Jon Walley] started a few years ago that tells the story of craftsmanship in today's culture with the goal of educating & inspiring young and old."



You may have seen other examples of these sort of "interview the maker" type shorts - but few more sincere and featuring such grounded characters. In the 5 episodes so far you will meet; a musician and Luthier that specializes in restoring & repairing the double bass, a welder who works for FBM Bikes, a cranberry farmer and community educator (who does not harvest by flooding the bog - had not seen this technique before), and a scrimshander.

I started in the middle (above) with Mark Phelan - a printmaker and Hot Rodder from Taunton, MA. The filmmaker gives Phelan plenty of room to really explain his fascination and reasoning and inspiration behind working with his hands on old cars. But as I started out saying, the tone is different from other interviews like this.... no preaching to the choir, and no assumptions are made - everything is carefully thought out and articulated. As Phelan says, "I dont want to dismiss technology completely either, because somebody has invented an artificial heart... that is pretty incredible."

American Hand. HT to the Non-Fiction Cartel for posting about this.