HOLY CRAFT

Holy Craft is a unique glimpse into the lives of a group of ragtag factory workers who make their livelihood by hand manufacturing inexpensive Catholic statues at TML—a visually striking factory, where they live, work and repose. We see their lives altered when the Pope anecdotally endorses their Sleeping St. Joseph statue—which the Pope states has the ability to grant wishes. The mishmash community comprising of a medley of LGBTQ workers along with the outcast and unemployables of the Philippines leads us into the paradoxical world of religion and money. We explore their complex relationship with their Catholic faith and how they separate the sacred from the secular while being dutiful to a church that shuns them. Playfully shifting from various documentary styles combined with a dream-like narrative, Holy Craft goes beyond the direct critique of the business of religion by focusing on the people behind the scenes and how they live and work within the absurdity of it all.