Pipe-Making Documentary Father The Flame To Premiere At 54th Chicago Int’l Film Festival

By KEVIN GODBEE • OCT. 10, 2018 • PIPEMAGAZINE.COM •

Acclaimed cinematographer Chad Terpstra makes directorial debut in sweeping, sentimental story of craftsmanship, tradition and family.

Mirror Darkly today announces the world premiere of FATHER THE FLAME, a documentary about the legacy of the tobacco pipe, at the 54th Chicago International Film Festival (October 10-21, 2018). Chad Terpstra, a Michigan-based cinematographer, makes his feature directorial debut with this cinematic exploration of the tobacco pipe, long a symbol of contentment, through the window of its sacred origins and meticulous craftsmanship. FATHER THE FLAME screens Friday, October 12 at 6:30p and Sunday, October 14 at 11:30a at the Festival’s primary venue, AMC River North (322 E. Illinois St.).

FATHER THE FLAME follows Lee Erck, a world-renowned pipe maker from far Northern Michigan, as he travels the globe to explore the nearly forgotten art of tobacco pipe making. Along the way is a charming cast of characters, including the “royal family of Danish pipemakers” and the patriarch who helped shape the industry; the Italian briar root cutter known as the world’s greatest source for the raw material used to make handcrafted pipes; and a fourth-generation Native American pipe maker who carries on his ancestors’ sacred traditions