Linotype: The Film

The documentary is about the line casting machine and about the people who worked with it. That machine changed printing from the root; the making of newspapers and books grew faster and it had a part in the spread of reading and writing. The film shows how the machine works and speaks with people who used it, repaired it, or are still trying to keep one running today. The unexpected part of the account is that it is emotional: for people who spent a working life with it, the disappearance of a technology is more than the loss of a trade. The film’s question is why an outdated machine still holds on to anyone. Doug Wilson’s seventy five minute American documentary was completed in 2012.