William Eggleston, Memphis, 1975, dye transfer print, Corcoran Gallery of Art
Catch-up post! The tour continues, although it’s starting to wind down (thank god!). Last week began with two great screenings at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC. The Corcoran is currently showing the photography exhibit William Eggleston: Democratic Camera. I’m a big fan of Eggleston’s photos. I saw this same exhibit at the Whitney late last year when I was finishing the film, and was really struck by his photos of people’s objects, just household objects like a vacuum cleaner in a corner, or the objects on someone’s mantle. I realized you could learn so much about a person, or about a moment in history, just by looking at a selection of their objects. The Eggleston photos actually inspired me to approach dozens of people and film objects that had personal meaning to them, and that footage ended up being the montage that ends Objectified.
We had two events in California, in Los Angeles and San Diego. I cannot begin to express my thanks to all the AIGA and IDSA chapters across the country who have been so helpful in organizing a lot of our events. California was no exception, with Josh Higgins in SD and Jill Finley in LA going the extra mile, along with dozens of volunteers. Special thanks as well to the staffs at Laemmle’s Royal Theater in West LA, and everyone at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla.
At the San Diego afterparty with AIGA SD’s Josh Higgins
El Ten Eleven, with live jet accompaniment
The San Diego event was especially cool due to an afterparty at the Subtext gallery, featuring a live set from Objectified soundtrack artists El Ten Eleven. If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me about their music in the film, I’d be at least a few hundred bucks richer. The party was outdoors, and the gallery is located at the base of the runway at San Diego airport, which meant that commercial jets were buzzing a few hundred feet above the band during the set! Fitting, since El Ten Eleven is named after an airplane. The band played a set of Helvetica and Objectified soundtrack faves, plus some new songs. They’re currently on tour in the US, definitely check them out if you can. Thanks to Kristian and Tim for coming down from LA to rock us.
Onward to Korea and a week of events in Seoul!
Cheers,
Gary
Categories: Film News
All 13 screenings in Seoul this week are sold out. It looks like there will be another week of screenings added, stay tuned for details. Special thanks to everyone who bought tickets, and to all the event sponsors!
Categories: Film News
We’re pleased to announce the Korean Premiere of Objectified, as part of the Design Film Festival 2009, sponsored by the Korean Design Foundation, Designflux, Ahn Graphics, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
July 23 - 29
Seoul, South Korea
Miro Space
Premiere of Objectified July 23rd, with director Gary Hustwit, then a week of screenings of Objectified and Helvetica. Get tickets or see the screening schedule.
Categories: Film News
The LA event this Thursday is completely sold out! Thanks to those who bought tickets, and sorry to those who weren’t able to. We’ll be announcing other LA events soon, so please get on our email list or follow Gary on Twitter for the latest updates.
There are still tickets available for the San Diego show this Friday, but tickets are only available at the door the night of the event, cash only, starting at 6pm. We are not taking RSVP’s, just arrive early. Please do not contact the Museum of Contemporary Art, they are not selling the tickets.
Categories: Film News
The scene outside the Grand Teatret
I did a quick trip to Europe last week for three evenings of Objectified in Copenhagen, Munich, and Amsterdam. The Copenhagen event was organized by Simon Roche and our friends at Sweet Talk Copenhagen, who also put on the Helvetica premiere in 2007. Design website Dansk Dynamit co-presented the evening. The weather was perfect, and the pre-show queue turned into an outdoor drinking party.
Sweet Talk’s Simon Roche hauls the PA…
… so DJ Tilde can rock the Copenhagen after-party
The it was on to Munich and a screening at TU-Munich, the big technical university there. Coincidentally it was the same day as Summerfest, the end-of-term party hosted by the school’s architecture program, so there were thousands of students outside drinking beer, eating bratwurst and listening to big band of old German guys.
The screening was held in a classic auditorium at the school, with long, curved wooden desks. Definitely a unique venue, with great atmosphere and a super staff of student A/V volunteers. Thanks to Martin, Philip, Fabricio, Leif, and everyone at IDEO Munich for their help and hospitality, and to Prof. Fritz Frenkler and the staff at TU-M for hosting the screening.
Smart Project Space was our next event locale, on a blisteringly hot Amsterdam day. It’s a fantastic space, a combination of cinema, performance space, art exhibition gallery, restaurant/bar and artists’ studios. And it’s right on one of the canals, so you could pull your boat right up to the dock. If you had a boat, that is. The three sold-out screenings were nice, with special guests Experimental Jetset, and Wim and Judith Crouwel in attendance. Things went so well that it looks like we’ll be returning for a week-long run there in September, stay tuned for details. Thanks to Laurence at Plexi UK and Chris at Smart Project Space for all the help organizing.
Back to the states now, for events next week in Washington DC, Los Angeles and San Diego. Objectified is also playing three nights at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, screening all next week at Cinéma du Parc in Montreal, and opening at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle this Friday.
Cheers!
- Gary
Categories: Film News
Panel discussion after the Rio de Janeiro screening.
I can now scratch another country of my “never been there” list: Brazil. And what a trip it’s been, thanks to some incredible hosts: Billy Bacon, Leo Eyer, and all the people at WeDo Design and their new venture Bold.
The event in Rio de Janeiro was held at the Museum of Modern Art (MAM), which is an awesome space… I could write hundreds of pages about the architecture here. The screening was so packed that they set up an overflow space outside, with people sitting in lounge chairs, sipping cerveja and watching the movie with its new (we barely finished them before show time!) Portuguese subtitles. Great panel discussion afterwards, with a slant towards sustainability, which is something I’ve noticed at a lot of the Q&A’s.
While in Rio I also had the honor of visiting the studio of legendary architect and designer Sergio Rodrigues. See my blog post for more on Sergio.
On to Sao Paulo, which the New York Times described as “the ugliest, most dangerous city you’ll ever love.” While I think SP’s gotten much safer recently, it’s definitely an acquired taste. The traffic alone could drive you mad; our trip to the Instituto Tomie Ohtake, where the screening was being held, normally takes 10 minutes by car. But in Friday SP rush hour, it took an hour and a half! We were giddy with exhaust fumes by the time we made it there, but it ended up being another packed screening and great panel discussion afterwards.
Might as well jump (Jump!) at the Instituto Tomie Ohtake.
Overall I was really impressed by the design scene in both cities, and how the appreciation of design can be a universal language that bridges cultures. And you know what else is a bridge between cultures? Food! Suffice to say I’ve gained like 10 pounds since being here… the food is so good, and the restaurants stay open insanely late. I’ve had such an amazing time here in Brazil, I can’t squeeze it all into this post. Will write more soon!
Cheers,
Gary
Categories: Film News, Musings
We’ve added a last-minute special screening in Munich!
Wednesday, July 1, 20:00
TU-MUNICH
Carl-von-Linde-Hörsaal 1200, Arcisstraße 21
80333 Maxvorstadt, München, Germany
Post-film Q&A with Gary Hustwit, Prof. Fritz Frenkler, and Leif Huff (IDEO)
Tickets will be on sale at the door, starting at 19:00. 10€ cash only.
Also both Amsterdam screenings on July 2 have sold out, so an extra early show has been added at 4:30pm. Only a limited amount of tickets are available, get yours now.
The June 29th Copenhagen screening has sold out, so an additional late show has been added at 9:30pm. Gary Hustwit will be introducing the late show but not doing a post-film Q&A. Tickets are available only at the Grand Teatret box office.
The Washington DC event at the Corcoran Gallery on July 6th has also sold out, and an additional 9:00pm late show has been added. Tickets for this new show are on sale now.
Categories: Film News
LA finally gets Objectified! Join director Gary Hustwit for a special one-night screening and discussion, presented in conjunction with AIGA Los Angeles and IDSA Los Angeles.
Thursday, July 9, 7:30pm
Los Angeles CA, USA
Laemmle’s Royal Theatre
Post-film Q&A with Gary Hustwit
Tickets on sale now. These are going to go quickly…
Categories: Film News
July 6 - 8
Austin TX, USA
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
Presented by AIGA Austin, IDSA Austin, and Amoda.
Get tickets.
July 10 - 16
Seattle WA, USA
Northwest Film Forum
A week of screenings in Seattle. Tickets on sale now.
July 19 - 23
Pittsburgh PA, USA
Harris Theater
A week-long run at Pittsburgh Filmmakers.
September 21
Stockholm, Sweden
Biografen Park
6:30pm, post-screening discussion with Gary Hustwit and special guests. Presented in conjunction with R&D.
Tickets on sale now.
Categories: Film News
While in Rio de Janeiro, I had the honor of visiting the studio of legendary Brazilian architect and designer Sergio Rodrigues. Sergio is probably most well-known outside Brazil for his chair designs, including his Mole (Poltrona, 1957) and Kilin chairs. [Lots of photos on his site, it's flash so I can't link to individual pages. And the "album" section only works in the Portuguese version.]
With Sergio and his wife.
Sergio examines the Objectified poster made by Bold for the events here.
I couldn’t leave Rio without snagging one of Sergio’s beautiful 1954 Mocho stools, below. Thanks to Sergio for having me over, and to the Bold guys for facilitating. Obrigado!
Categories: Musings
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