Weaving three stories--- of a Berkeley repair business, a Canadian collector, and a Bay Area artist--- and including interviews with famous typewriter devotees like Tom Hanks, Sam Shepard and David McCullough, this documentary celebrates the creative virtues and tactile joys of the typewriter. But rather than a eulogy for yet another mechanical device tossed on the slag heap of obsolete technology--- joining the Polaroid, the album, and sprocketed film--- this microhistory is both a love letter to this humble tool and a pointed critique of our digital age. As metal, ink, and paper collide with a click-clack and ping, our thoughts slow to the speed of our fingers, our words become tangible, and creativity flows uninterrupted by a machine that thinks for us. For some, the typewriter's limits are benefits, even a state of mind. Ultimately, the film suggests we move past that modern technological conundrum--- analog or digital?--- and simply embrace both.
Co-presented with KQED's Truly California.