Laila
1980 · 10m · Canada
Directed by Diane Beaudry
Genres: biography, documentary
Tones: contemplative
After tiring of low-paid work, Laila Paattinen trains in drywall installation, meets resistance in a male-dominated trade and starts her own business.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A 1980 NFB doc about a woman learning drywall sounds like the opposite of subversive, but Beaudry's refusal to make this a triumph narrative—just a woman doing the work, meeting resistance, moving on—is quietly radical in its refusal to perform inspiration.
Formally situated within the NFB's documentary tradition of social portraiture, *Laila* operates with the restraint and observational precision that marks the best institutional nonfiction; it trusts the subject's agency rather than the filmmaker's intervention.
The crucial choice here is tonal: Beaudry holds the camera steady on Laila's hands, her face, her slow competence—never undercutting with music or commentary—and that formal patience transforms a straightforward premise into something that feels earned and genuinely alive.