Review: Handmade Nation

Since I’ve been talking so much about my big crafty weekend, I thought I’d better talk about the film that sparked it: Handmade Nation.

If you want some background on the film, visit its website (linked above), or listen to the podcast I did a while back with director Faythe Levine.

Faythe Levine traveled thousands of miles to make this film, incurred a lot of credit card debt, and took on a massive commitment of time and energy. She definitely deserves all our gratitude for bringing this project to life.

The film had a great reception here in Portland, with four sold-out screenings and a panel discussion with several people featured in the film. I think that, for those of us who make things, it’s a real delight to see other makers shown in the magical big-screen movie format.

The film presents interviews with a number of indie crafters who sell their work. For the most part, it deals with why these makers craft. The film is designed, I believe, to introduce indie craft to people who aren’t familiar with it – so if you spend any amount of time in the online craft community, you likely already know of many of the people and ideas presented here.

I do hope that Handmade Nation has a chance to reach a non-crafty audience, where I think it can be a colorful and interesting emissary for our community. It perfectly portrays the quirkiness, the independence, and the uniqueness of the indie craft culture.

I think this is a good first film about the craft world, and I hope it isn’t the last. There’s a vast amount of story to tell outside the slice of the crafty landscape shown in Handmade Nation.

There’s the large network of people swapping through the mail, forging personal connections over distances with handmade things. There’s the speed and compassion with which we crafters have mobilized aid to members of our community in need. There’s a whole fascinating film in the question of “What is Indie?” And another one in the craft blogging community. And yet another one in the craft industry’s sometimes-lumbering awakening to this vibrant new movement. And there’s so much more.

(Hear that, documentary filmmakers of the world?)

If the film comes to your town, I hope you get to see it. The animated opening and closing credits of Handmade Nation, by the way (of which I’ve shown a few stills here), are gorgeous and amazing. If you haven’t, be sure to watch this video!