In praise of hands

Canada, 1974

Please note

Sorry, we don't have images or video for this item.

A tribute to the craftsmen everywhere whose work adds colour and richness to life. Filmed in the Canadian Arctic, Finland, India, Nigeria, Japan, Mexico, and Poland, it shows the special skills of artisans working at their crafts - stone sculpture, pottery, ceramics, weaving, dyeing, puppet making, embroidery. Each indigenous skill is a reflection of the culture of the country. Film without words. (Award: Moscow)

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at ACMI.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Donald Winkler

co-producer

Colin Low

Tom Daly

production company

National Film Board of Canada

Duration

00:27:30:00

Production places

Canada

Production dates

1974

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

012479

Subject categories

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Motion pictures - Awards

Agriculture, Business, Commerce & Industry → Dyes and dyeing

Agriculture, Business, Commerce & Industry → Weaving

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Arctic Coast (Canada)

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Finland

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → India

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Indigenous peoples - Social life and customs

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Japan

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Mexico

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Nigeria

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Poland

Crafts & Visual Arts → Artists

Crafts & Visual Arts → Arts and crafts movement

Crafts & Visual Arts → Ceramics

Crafts & Visual Arts → Dyes and dyeing

Crafts & Visual Arts → Embroidery

Crafts & Visual Arts → Handicraft

Crafts & Visual Arts → Pottery

Crafts & Visual Arts → Puppet making

Crafts & Visual Arts → Stone carving

Crafts & Visual Arts → Weaving

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - Canada

Places → Arctic Coast (Canada)

Short films → Short films - Canada

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Preservation Print (Section 5)

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/75178--in-praise-of-hands/ |title=In praise of hands |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=24 May 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}