A new documentary, Boatbuilders, premiering at the Venice film festival, follows craftsmen at the Brooklin Boat Yard in Maine over roughly a year as they construct a bespoke 56ft sailing yacht for a wealthy financier. Directed by Luke Lorentzen, the film is a quiet, observational study of skilled manual labour and the dynamic between the working-class boatbuilders and their super-rich client, offering a meditative counterpoint to the festival's usual bustle. It matters as a distinctive piece of "slow cinema" that elevates everyday craftsmanship, continuing Lorentzen's interest in documenting under-examined forms of work.

The film tracks the build of the yacht Kiandra, commissioned by financier Graham Green, from timber-cutting through to launch, spanning a full change of seasons at the yard. It centres on boss Brian Larkin and carpenter Trent Glisson, who is being gently groomed for a project manager role and struggles with self-doubt and awkward client calls. Lorentzen, previously behind Midnight Family and A Still Small Voice, treats his subjects with notable discretion, even softening moments of workplace conflict such as a colleague's firing, while the finished film carries an underlying tension about the gulf between the craftsmen's expertise and their wealthy client's comparative naivety.