In the Making (U*)

A New Use (Japan/US 2018 Dir Monika Uchiyama 24 min)
This observational documentary takes us into the Tokyo wax factory belonging to the director’s family. The least ‘romantic’ workshop imaginable, the space is cramped and dusty, but at the workbench and outside, where grandma is wrapping the finished product, there is an incredible sense of camaraderie and shared purpose.  

Fuego en el Cielo (Mexico 2022 Dir Mariano Rentería Garnica 13 min)
In the Purépecha community of Paracho, Mexico, the Torres family meet to build hot air balloons. Hand-made from paper, these balloons can take weeks to make, and are up, up and gone in minutes. The family speak movingly of the craft as cultural expression, and something that holds them together as a unit.  

Primitive (Mexico/Argentina 2023 Dir Azucena Losana 5 min)
The most experimental film in our line-up, this is a portrait of Doña Vivi in her home and ceremonial beeswax candle factory, in Teotitlán, Oaxaca, Mexico. 

The Hatmaker (Finland 2023 Dir Mari Koppanen, Katri Ilona Koppanen, Kari Ahotupa 11 min)
In the small mountain village of Corund in Transylvania, a rare mushroom craft has been passed down through generations. There, handmade objects (including hats) are made from a leather-like material processed from tinder fungus. But now, as ageing artisans pass away, this precious ‘amadou’ tradition is at risk of disappearing.  

The New Indigo Wave (Puerto Rico 2025 Dir Karla Claudio 12 min)
In the Oaxacan town Niltepec indigo has been processed from the jiquilite plant for more than a century. Now a new, young generation of dyers is recovering this knowledge and trying to make a living, while young local makers are using the dye, in preference to the synthetic alternative, as an endorsement of local heritage.  

Gods of Clay (US 2024 Dir Amit Bhattacharya 15 min)
A documentary short looking at the art and artists of Kumortuli, a community in Kolkata, India who use traditional methods to craft large, near life-size clay statues for religious ceremonies.  

Ikebana (Canada 2019 Dir Alejandro Yoshizawa 5 min)
A Japanese-Canadian pensioner talks about her past, her Japanese identity, and how practising Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging) has helped her reconnect with a heritage she had wanted, or was encouraged, to leave behind.  

You May Laugh at Me a Little (Canada 2024 Dir Yuula Benivolski 22 min)
In Hebron, glassblower Abu Waheed has worked in the family shop since childhood. His family’s glassmaking history dates back to the thirteenth century, when glass factories dominated Hebron’s old city. Now his is the last such shop.