Dokumentissa haastatellaan ihmisiä, jotka torjuvat amerikkalaisen ihanteen eivätkä usko tavaroiden tuovan onnea vaan näyttävät, että vähemmän on enemmän.
TV producer and Internet-video personality Kirsten Dirksen invites us on her journey into the tiny homes of people searching for simplicity, self-sufficiency, minimalism and happiness by creating shelter in caves, converted garages, trailers, tool sheds, river boats and former pigeon coops.
Four people seek a more sustainable and secure future by asking the question: "What is it really like to build and live in a tiny house?"
Frankie and Charlie have moved to a tiny house. They regret it. It’s Christmas Eve. Frankie is miserable. Charlie’s organised a festive family lunch. Then Charlie finds a disoriented cockatiel by the river. She tucks him into a box and brings him inside. Little do they know – this bird has its own agenda. Nobody seems to notice something strange has started falling from the sky.
"The Tiny House Movement is about reevaluating what we have, what we want, what we need, what we love – what we want to do with our lives." - Lina Menard
Living Small explores the world of tiny houses through the lives of the people on the movement’s forefront. The film centers on Anderson Page as he builds a tiny house for the first time, discovering the challenges and rewards of constructing one's own living space. Living Small offers an alternative meditation on the spaces we inhabit and asks the question: Could we live more with less?
Tiny homes are built on 8.5ft by 24-30ft trailer beds. In fact, Dylan Kerchner, a local from York, Pennsylvania, built one himself. Tiny homes are currently banned from being livable in the county due to the minimum habitable space list is less than 700 sq. ft. Luckily, right next to York County lies Lancaster County, which welcomes tiny homes into its county. In part of this, Abby Hobson and Ryan met and created a tiny house community Tiny Estates in Elizabethown (located in Lancaster County). Tiny Estates has been open since April 2018 and is the largest tiny house community in the nation with 28 tiny homes on wheels and can hold up to 100. “The market is telling us that this is only going to increase.” mentions Marcus Stoltzfus, co-owner of Liberation Tiny Homes, a builder of tiny houses in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The business of tiny homes is growing along with the love for living a simpler life. “Home is where the heart is.” - Pliny the Elders.
"Summer of (family) love" is a roadtrip film that brings together some of the bigger names in the tiny house world with one family's attempt to live deliberately with just the essentials, if only for one season.