Small is Beautiful

Small is Beautiful is a documentary following four people as they build their own tiny houses in pursuit of a mortgage free lifestyle, discovering that living tiny is about so much more than just the house.

It is a revealing look into the tiny house movement, a grass roots response to the housing affordability crisis that traps young and low income citizens from across the developed world. In Portland, Oregon, we meet four characters, each of whom are at various stages of building and living in their own tiny homes. Ben is a 20 something single guy with an inheritance to spend and a design he drew, but an ambitious timeline and no building experience. Nikki and Mitchell are a young couple who, along with their two dogs, dream of bucking the stereotypical life story of buying a big house and spending the rest of their lives paying it off. Karen, 50, has loved living in her tiny house for two years yet still struggles with the lack of permanency that comes with living in a house on wheels.

It’s a fascinating insight into the way a major personal undertaking of any sort can drive a person to the brink of insanity and tear apart relationships. A timely reinterpretation of the age old American Dream, a study in the gaining of wisdom through the humiliation of failure, and ultimately a celebration of community.

Ultimately Small is Beautiful proves that it’s not what’s inside the walls of a tiny house that counts, but rather it is the strong community of like minded people who support each other as they dare to be different.

For more information on screenings of the film smallbeautifulmovie.com