The Pottery Maker

Robert J. Flaherty: The Pottery Maker. An American Episode of the XX Century (US 1925). Screenshot from YouTube.

The Pottery Maker. An American Episode of the XX Century
    US © 1925 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. D: Robert J. Flaherty. A documentary film. /18 fps/ 16 min. Print: MoMA. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 19 Jan 2010.

A print with a beautiful definition of light. Slight water damage signs from the source for a short while.

A classic Flahertyan documentary film.

Synopsis: The Greenwich house pottery. One of the earliest crafts, and one of the first of the arts. The potter's wheel as it has been used since thousands of years. - A grandmother and a little girl visit the potter. - The girl breaks the still moist clay vase by accident. - The potter starts from the start. He prepares the clay. He wedges the moist clay to take our air bubbles. Then we see how he works at the potter's wheel. He lets the clay rise and pushes it down. The clay is slowly shaped into a vase. - Glaze is poured over the dried vases. The vases are packed in the kiln and fired. The potter lays bricks to close the oven. - The little girl gets a little vase as a goodbye gift.

The art of the hand. The total concentration of the craftsman. The Flahertyan philosophy: to catch the person when he is totally immersed in what he is doing.