Glass

director: Bert Haanstra

original title: Glas

country: Netherlands

year: 1958

running time: 10 min.

synopsis

Skills and concentration of the glass-blowers have to compete with the mechanized mass bottle production. The scenes that observe the glass-blowersʼ bodies and their fine, almost imperceptible movements, which are a physical reminder of the craftsmenʼs practical skills, are accompanied by Pim Jacobsʼ jazz performance. The automatic movement of the machine is emphasized by the monotonous counting of the produced bottles.

biography

Bert Haanstra (1916–1997) was a significant Dutch filmmaker, the author of documentaries such as Mirror of Holland (Spiegel van Holland, 1950), The Human Dutch (Alleman, 1963), Ape and Super-Ape (Bij de beesten af, 1972), and a fictional film Fanfare (Fanfare, 1958). His film Glass (Glas, 1958) won the Oscar for the best documentary. With his friend Jacques Tati he worked on the film Traffic (Trafic, 1971).

more about film

director:

Bert Haanstra

back to listing