Boatbuilders
A visually stunning ode to impeccable craftsmanship and the beauty of Maine, Luke Lorentzen’s latest documentary profiles the workers of Brooklin Boat Yard, a company building custom wooden yachts since 1960.
Description
A visually stunning ode to impeccable craftsmanship and the beauty of Maine, Luke Lorentzen’s latest documentary profiles the workers of Brooklin Boat Yard, a company building custom wooden yachts since 1960. Here, the meticulous employees apply their skills over 16 months to a 56-foot beauty, sawing, sanding, and bending planks to their will. Away from these refined efforts, the men tend to families, gather apples from Maine’s famed orchards, and weather the seasons in a place of remarkable beauty. Lorentzen’s attentive camera also captures workplace potlucks, business meetings, and pep talks from Human Resources, because simmering below the work and the pride they all take in it are the economic challenges and disparities of the modern world amid a very specialized business. As everyone rushes to meet the deadline for the boat’s owner, Boatbuilders manifests a sense of wonder at these vessels of stupendous beauty. —Rod Armstrong
Trailer
Biographies
Luke Lorentzen is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker. His last film, A Still Small Voice (2023), followed a chaplain completing a yearlong hospital residency. The film won the US Documentary Best Director Award at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, was listed as one of the 10 best films of the year by the New York Times, and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Luke’s previous film, Midnight Family (Festival 2019), was also shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, after winning more than 35 awards from film festivals and organizations around the world. With Kellen Quinn, Luke is a co-founder of the independent production company Hedgehog Films.