Playing as part of 2026 Doc Stories
Director Luke Lorentzen is expected to attend for a post-screening Q&A.
A visually stunning ode to impeccable craftsmanship and the beauty of Maine, Luke Lorentzen’slatest documentary profiles the workers of Brooklin Boat Yard, a company building custom wooden yachts since 1960. Here, the meticulous employees apply their skills over 16 months to a 56-foot beauty, sawing, sanding, and bending planks to their will. Away from these refined efforts, the men tend to families, gather apples from Maine’s famed orchards, and weather the seasons in a place of remarkable beauty. Lorentzen’s attentive camera also captures workplace potlucks, business meetings, and pep talks from Human Resources, because simmering below the work and the pride they all take in it are the economic challenges and disparities of the modern world amid a very specialized business. As everyone rushes to meet the deadline for the boat’s owner, Boatbuilders manifests a sense of wonder at these vessels of stupendous beauty. —Rod Armstrong