Film: "Glas" - Bert Haanstra‘s 1959 Oscar winning documentary short

My great grandfather William Henry Coughlin (1872-1952) came to Canada from Poughkeepsie, New York to work as a glassblower at the Wallaceburg Ontario glass factory.

As the years passed, Dominion Glass began to move steadily away from glassblower-craftsmen. The Coughlin family eventually moved to Windsor (1918) because glass making had been automated and the need for skilled glassblowers was officially over.

That is why I love this short documentary (10 minutes) by Bert Haanstra about Dutch glass production in the 1950's. It demonstrates glass being made by hand and mass production using jazz and techno music.  "Glas" is often acclaimed to be the perfect short documentary.

Watch the amazing glass artisans at Royal Leerdam Glass Factory back-to-back with machines used in automated bottle making.