This Filnn is Going to be About a Sauna
We were introduced to the Hobbit Hole by Spencer Beebe. Despite being one of the most impactful conservationists of our time, Spencer sees that his work has not been adequate. He’s now convinced that it’s these places at the edges of the world - where people live with one foot in the old and one in the new - where the stories of change and the fractals of a new economy emerge. In search of these stories, we traveled the Alaskan coastline and through the snowiest mountain range on earth, before the seaplane landed in this real life Lord of the Rings. A sauna was to be built at the Hobbit Hole that summer, and people from throughout Alaska would be coming together to give their time to the effort. I was to come back and document it.
This simple story of coming together to build a sauna is a remembrance of community. A community that includes the many generations and the more than human world - strengthened by the sweat of building and using a sauna.
Working on this film and the Hobbit Hole offered a vantage from which to see the individualistic, human-centric culture I live in. It reawakened memories of childhood and what matters to me.
Credits
Director: Taliesin Black-Brown
Executive Producer: Greg Moga
Producer: Taliesin Black-Brown
Line Producer: Zack Robertson
DP/Colorist: Ben Cowan
Editor: Ben Kaplan
Sound Mixer: Calvin Hunting Pia
Production: Bray's Run Productions
