The New York premiere of SONO LINO ("I am Lino") is scheduled for this coming Sunday, October 20th, as part of the Chelsea Film Festival, and, if you think it's one more love letter to the genius of the maestro, you might be surprised. The filmmaker, Jacob Patrick, is not a veteran documentary maker about glass, but instead is a wide-ranging producer, director, and cinematographer, who brings a fresh perspective to his subject. Sono Lino is not another compendium of luscious shots of colorful sculpted forms emerging from the smoke and fire of the hot shop, though there are plenty of artful compositions of Lino in action. But at its heart, the film is a character study, an investigation into who Lino is, and engages how he has impacted so many lives around him. Of course, any film about someone as skilled and visionary as Lino would have to explore his level of finesse and skill, and there are plenty of gorgeously composed shots at the bench, but it's the interplay of personalities that most interested Patrick. The Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet caught up with the filmmaker to discuss this project a couple of days before its New York debut.
Glass: I understand you're really an outsider in the sense of not being steeped in the glass world at all before making this film. So I'm wondering how this project came about, can you talk a bit about that?
Jacob Patrick: Sure. So, back in 2018, I was trying to put together a show idea around master craftsmanship, and I thought glass could be a cool part of that. After months of diving so deep into the glass world, I started to realize every titan in the industry spoke about this guy named Lino. I found out he had a gallery in Seattle, and got connected to Jacopo, Lino's grandson and business manager. I pitched it as a documentary series, an anthology built around the idea of master craftsmanship, and one of the episodes would have been about Lino, but it didn't end up working out. I stayed in touch with Lino's family, as I had not yet met Lino, himself.
Glass: So the anthology project fell through, but you stayed in touch?
Patrick: Yes, there was a connection, and the family let me know in the beginning of 2020, that Lino was coming to Seattle to do a run of hot shop sessions, and that these might be some of his last as he was in his mid-80s at the time. So I went up to Seattle and met him, and, from that moment, I like to say I fell madly in love. It's hard to explain, but for some reason I got this feeling that I’m supposed to tell this guy’s story, and then I just started diving into it.
But then, of course, the pandemic hit, and we got pushed into shutdown, I couldn't film anything for the next year. And during that period, the lockdown pushed him into stepping back and considering retirement. It really wasn't until the end of 2021 that we finally got together and dove into the project. There was something that struck me about how much he was wrestling with being forced into retirement, and I started following him around the world with this hope that he would blow glass again.
But you see, I was in pursuit of the man, and not solely focused on his work. Of course that's in the film, and I hope that everyone looks at how majestic his work is, but I wanted to tell a story about the complex person behind the sculpture, and how much he affects those around him.
Glass: I have to tell you I find it amazing that you were able to document the last time Lino blew glass. I mean, that is just such an incredible thing to have been there for that event.
Patrick: Up until that point, the film didn't really have an ending. This project was really made by must my editing partner Lano Medina and myself. I basically picked up my camera and was following Lino around the world. So, after what was years of filming, Lano and I were working hard on shaping an ending that didn't involve Lino blowing glass. It wasn't until January of 2023 that Jacopo told me about the event coming up in March, and we got the gift of that moment.
So they got the team together to celebrate Lino on the most heartwarming way, and just to be there, to be in the space and feel the energy of the room -- and to see how difficult it was for Lino emotionally, and yet how much he was really embracing and taking in each moment. It was so powerful to be there. Understand, this was that iteration of Lino's team that hadn't worked together for more than 10 years -- Nancy Callan, David Walters, John Kiley, Jen Elek, DH McNabb, Dante Marioni --joined by the Museum of Glass team led by Ben Cobb. It was like symphony, it was unbelievable to see it unfold. It was like not a single moment had passed since the team was working toether more than a decade earlier -- it was wholesome and beautiful -- and also sad, but with that, deeply happy.
Glass: Interesting in a way how you had to become something of a virtuoso of multi-tasking to capture this maestro of glass. You mean there wasn't a crew with lighting and sound?
Patrick: I shot everything on a SONY FX6 or FX3 cinema cameras. Sometimes I brought my own lighting, but we only used it for two interviews. The whole movie is handheld camera using natural light with me running my own audio and swinging my own lenses. I really had to think on my toes as it was a one-man show. It helped that I'm a photographer and cinematographer but the project was really just me and my editing partner.
Glass: What was so fascinating to you about Lino that you devoted so much to this project, which sounds very different from your usual work on features and commercial work?
Patrick: How much time have you got? I could talk for hours. My most cherished moments through the process had nothing to do with the making of the movie, but were about the time I got to spend with him. Having espresso with him in silence are among the most powerful moments for me. I think about this every day. Lino just has a joy about him, something perhaps II envy. But it's Lino's means to capture life in away that part of me only feels like you can learn if you’ve been at it for that long. Sure, what he’s done is manual labor, which is crazy -- from age 11! I sure wasn’t working in a factory at that age! But there’s this thing in him, not even just about his incredible drive and motivation, which are incredible, but he also has this pure, almost childlike wonder and curiosity about him. It’s like a specific type of magic to be around, and I do feel lucky I got to ask him questions, conversations off camera. I also know I’m not alone -- he’s been a fatherly figure to so many people. He feels like the grandfather I never had. How he and his family have taken me in the way they have has been life-changing.
Glass: Can you talk about the level of independence you had in shaping the film? Was the family involved in the editing or the framing of the film at all?
Patrick: The amount of trust the family had in in my work on this project is not lost on me. It's flattering beyond measure. Lino did not see a single frame of this film until it was finished. They let me tell the story, get to the heart of what I really wanted to do before I had to show it.
I could have done a whole other type of movie about his effect on the glass industry, and we do go through the chronology of his whole life, but the emphasis is on him and where his motivations come from, what it means to him to have his legacy carry on. To be honest, I feel the best way to express Lino's legacy is the people who he has affected the most. And that is what we show through the people in the film who have been so deeply affected by him.
Glass: What's always interested me about Lino is how he has this vision and endless innovative design creativity, but there is also this very basic understanding that to be a glassblower means blowing glass -- he doesn't seem to be comfortable to shifting to just designing and having others making his work without him integral to the process, do you know what I mean?
Patrick: Yes, definitely. He has to be at the bench. It's as if Lino refuses to call himself a glassblower unless he’s sitting at the bench.
Glass: So, I understand there will be an after-party with a glassblowing demo after the screening. Is that open to the public, or do you have to see the film first?
Patrick: The only way to attend the after-party, which will be taking place at UrbanGlass and will feature a demo by Adam Holzinger, is to bring your ticket stub from Regal 14th Street Cinema, where the film will be screened at 4:45 PM on Sunday. It can be a little tricky to find the tickets, you have to go to this ticket link to purchase, click "Get Tickets" and scroll all the way down to Sono Lino. And remember to save your stubs or receipts to attend the after-party at UrbanGlass from 7 PM to 8:30 PM in Brooklyn.
IF YOU GO:
Sunday, October 20, 2024; 4:45 PM
New York Premiere
SONO LINO
REGAL 14th Street
850 Broadway,
New York City
TICKET LINK: https://chelseafilm.org/sono-lino/
- Click the "In person passes and tickets
- Click "get tickets"
- Scroll down to SONO LINO
- Purchase and save receipt or ticket stub or receipt for after-party entrance3
- After Party will be at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn beginning at 7 PM.
- Entry is with screening ticket stub or receipt only