The rumor has popped up a few times, over the past few months, that "The Sign Painter Movie is opening soon, in San Francisco!" I've emailed Faythe, the co-director, and she promises to let us know if and when that's going to happen. I.e., not yet! This past week, I was making a window sign, in copper leaf, designed by one of the blokes at Friends of Type, and he mentioned having seen some "9 minute clip" of the movie, that had some footage of New Bohemia Signs in it, too. I'll have to ask him to send a link, if it's online, because my search for video of "Sign Painter Movie" yielded only these: first, El Letrista, a 3 1/2 minute long Argentinean film, wherein someone leaves a Neuro-psychiatric Hospital, pops some pills, watches a woman put on her shirt, and, between 0:40 and 1:10, brushes out a few letters. Yo no hablo español, so I'm not sure what's happening, but there's a loud and mournful piano soundtrack. Then there was also this gem:
[vimeo 12848606]
I don't know where in India these painters are, but it's good to see their chops, and interesting to note the parallels in the arc of the industry, on either side of the globe.
If you find that movie interesting, you may want a look at my Flickr set of signs, mostly hand painted, and mostly from the south Indian state of Kerala, taken during our honeymoon, a few years back. Somewhere in the middle of the set, I meet a sign painter, working on trucks, in Alleppey. I regret now that I didn't get more pictures of him, but we didn't speak one another's languages, so it was difficult. I think I communicated that I was in the same line of work... not sure.
There are, actually, a number of other sign painting videos that pop up in the YouTube sidebar for El Letrista. Let me know if you find one you like. I enjoyed this one, but I think he should trade piano soundtracks with El Letrista.