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  • Iron Pearls (2025)
  • 56 min | Documentary
Iron Pearls (2025)
56 min | Documentary
Iron Pearls is a feature documentary about the life, career, and creative process of Elizabeth Brim, whose bold, witty, and transformative work has redefined blacksmithing over the course of her forty-year career. The film tells the ...See moreIron Pearls is a feature documentary about the life, career, and creative process of Elizabeth Brim, whose bold, witty, and transformative work has redefined blacksmithing over the course of her forty-year career. The film tells the powerful story of a woman who forged her path in a male-dominated field, establishing herself as an internationally recognized artist and trailblazer. More than a traditional artist profile, Iron Pearls explores the deeper messaging behind Brim's work-sculptures that both satirize her genteel Southern upbringing and confront themes of gender identity, inclusion, and the shifting boundaries between craft and fine art. Through interviews with artists, curators, and collectors, the film illuminates Brim's enduring influence across disciplines and generations. Structured in chapters, the documentary interweaves Brim's biography with broader cultural and historical contexts. One chapter presents a high-level history of blacksmithing in the United States, featuring insights from Carissa Hussong, Executive Director of the Metal Museum, and Brian J. Lang, Chief Curator at the Windgate Foundation. Another chapter offers an intimate and emotional narrative: the making of an iron broom used in the wedding ceremony of husbands Brad and Bobby Cushman. Their reflections on the African American tradition of "jumping the broom" and on marriage equality situate Brim's art within larger social and political conversations, underscoring the inclusivity and humanity at the heart of her practice. See less
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Cinematographer
Franklin Mills
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Release date
Oct 12, 2025 (United States)

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