Film Festivals and Online Video Contests: News Bytes

With more than 80 entertaining and fun events during the 2012 Modernism Week February 16-26, attendees will have a dizzying number of enticing choices to enjoy. Notably, modernism fans will be able to see several premieres in the dynamic Design on Screen Modernism Film Series and hear numerous renowned speakers in the groundbreaking Architecture, Preservation and Design Lecture Series.

(Palm Springs, CA) -- With more than 80 entertaining and fun events during the 2012 Modernism Week February 16-26, attendees will have a dizzying number of enticing choices to enjoy. Notably, modernism fans will be able to see several premieres in the dynamic Design on Screen Modernism Film Series and hear numerous renowned speakers in the groundbreaking Architecture, Preservation and Design Lecture Series. A few of the highlights from each series follows, for the full schedule please visit: http://www.modernismweek.com

The Architecture, Preservation and Design Lecture Series features 19 compelling topics and passionate speakers. Here are only a few highlights:

ALEXANDER GIRARD, WHEN MODERN EXPLODED WITH COLOR, PATTERN, PRIMITIVE, AND POP
Lecturer: Brad Dunning

Brad Dunning is a designer known for working on architecturally significant properties, restorations and contemporary design. Besides his own designs he has worked on homes by such architects as Richard Neutra, Wallace Neff, Quincy Jones, Albert Frey, John Lautner, and many others. He has also written about architecture and design for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Vogue, and was a contributing editor on architecture and design for GQ Magazine.

LIVE, LOVE & DECORATE
Lecturer: Martyn Lawrence Bullard

Star of Bravo TV’s Million Dollar Decorators, Martyn Lawrence Bullard is a multiple award winning interior designer known for his glamorous interiors for high profile and celebrity clientele. His global visionary point-of-view creates luxurious sanctuaries for such stars as Cher, Elton John, Christina Aguilera, Eva Mendes and Sharon and Ozzie Osbourne.

CALIFORNIA DESIGN, 1930-1965: LIVING IN A MODERN WAY
Lecturer: Wendy Kaplan

Wendy Kaplan has been the Department Head and Curator, Decorative Arts and Design, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) since 2001. She is the co-organizer of the exhibition California Design, 1930-1965: “Living in a Modern Way”, which opened at LACMA in October 2011.

COLOR + MODERNISM
Lecturers: Paul Aferiat and Peter Stamberg

Paul Aferiat and Peter Stamberg discuss color theory, the history of color in architecture, why color disappeared from architecture and ways in which they use color in their work. Their firm Stamberg Aferiat Architecture was founded in 1989. Rizzoli International published a monograph on their work in 1997 which is being revised and expanded in 2012. Projects include Clifty Creek School, Columbus IN, additions; The Long Island Children's Museum, Garden City NY; Salsa Sofa Collection for Knoll International; Badgley Mischka Showroom and Offices and The Saguaro Hotel Scottsdale. They are currently working on The Saguaro Hotel Palm Springs and Gemini G.E.L. @ Joni Moisant Weyl Gallery in New York.

Lecture + Lunch
THE WHITE CITY: TEL AVIV AND THE BAUHAUS
Lecturer: Volker M. Welter

Volker M. Welter is an architectural historian who has studied and worked in Germany, Scotland, and England. He has received awards and fellowships from the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London/Yale University, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. Among his publications are Biopolis-Patrick Geddes and the City of Life (MIT Press, 2002) and many articles in academic journals, including Israel Studies. His latest book, Ernst L. Freud, Architect: The Case of the Modern Bourgeois Home, will be published in October 2011.

Design on Screen Modernism Film Series
features 12 fascinating films in the series and 6 special premiere screenings, some highlights include:

Palm Springs Premiere!
LIONESS AMONG LIONS – THE ARCHITECT ZAHA HADID
2010, Director: Horst Brandenburg

Winner of the prestigious Pritzker prize in 2004 and the Praemium Imperiale in 2009, the English-Iraqi architect and designer Zaha Hadid (born in 1950) has long been controversial. This film spotlights a leading figure in deconstructivism and her visionary achievements around the world: the MAXXI contemporary art museum in Rome, the CMA-CGM tower in Marseille, the Guangzhou Opera and a performing arts centre in Abu Dhabi. It features commentaries by Tom Krens of the Guggenheim Foundation, architect Patrick Schumacher, photographer Hélène Binet, publisher Francesco Dal Co and stylist Karl Lagerfeld.

Palm Springs Premiere!
EAMES: THE ARCHITECT AND THE PAINTER
2011, Directors: Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey
With Director Jason Cohn in person

Eames: The Architect and the Painter is first film about Charles and Ray Eames since their deaths and the only film to peer inside their collaboration, their marriage and the “Renaissance studio” they created in a gritty warehouse in Venice, CA. Narrated by James Franco, the film draws from a trove of archival material, primarily the stunning films and photographs produced in mind-boggling volume by Charles, Ray, and their staff during the hyper-creative forty years of the Eames Office. Family members and design historians help guide the story, but it is in interviews with the junior designers swept into the “24-7” world of “The Eamery,” that a fascinatingly complex picture of this husband and wife creative team really emerges.

Palm Springs Premiere!
URBANIZED
2011, Director: Gary Hustwit,

Urbanized explores the design of cities and is the third part of Gary Hustwit’s design film trilogy, joining his previous hits, Helvetica and Objectified. The documentary looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers. The challenges of balancing housing, mobility, public space, civic engagement, economic development, and environmental policy are fast becoming universal concerns. By exploring a diverse range of urban design projects around the world, Urbanized frames a global discussion on the future of cities.

Palm Springs Premiere!
MILTON GLASER: TO INFORM AND DELIGHT
2009, Director: Wendy Keys

For many, Milton Glaser is the personification of American graphic design. Best known for co-founding New York Magazine and the enduring I ♥ NY campaign, the full breadth of Glaser's remarkable artistic output is revealed in this documentary portrait, Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight. From newspapers and magazine designs, to interior spaces, logos, and brand identities, to his celebrated prints, drawings, posters and paintings, the documentary offers audiences a much richer appreciation for one of the great modern renaissance men. Artfully directed by first time filmmaker Wendy Keys, the film glances into everyday moments of Glaser's personal life and capture his immense warmth, humanity and the boundless depth of his intelligence and creativity.

Palm Springs Premiere!
JOHN PORTMAN: A LIFE OF BUILDING
2011, Director: Ben Loeterman

Once a maverick who was nearly run out of the American Institute of Architects, John Portman is now recognized as one of the most innovative and imitated architects ever. Over 45 years, Portman’s iconic urban statements and eye-popping interiors have risen in 60 cities on four continents to redefine cityscapes in America, and skylines in China and the rest of Asia. The film captures Portman’s approach in an intimate portrait that, by turn, assesses and appreciates Portman’s work. Dramatic time-lapse footage shows off Portman’s buildings at their best—often in moving sunlight that washes over his facades and spaces.

World Premiere Screening!
MODERN TIDE: MIDCENTURY ARCHITECTURE ON LONG ISLAND
2012, Director: Jake Gorst
Reception With Director following film

Modern Tide: Midcentury Architecture on Long Island explores the work of the region’s best postwar architects and designers, including Albert Frey, Wallace Harrison, Herbert Beckhard, Frank Lloyd Wright, Horace Gifford, Edward Durrell Stone, Marcel Breuer, Andrew Geller, Philip Johnson, John Hejduk, Charles Gwathmey, Barbara and Julian Neski and others. The film features interviews with architects and historians, as well as the friends, families and clients of these influential designers. Both rare archival material and gorgeous current-day cinematography highlight Long Island’s often underappreciated modernist architectural treasures.

“The range and variety of Modernism Week events continue to expand each year and the modernism fans who travel from around the world to participate in Modernism Week will not be disappointed. Our 7th annual festival will offer 11 exciting days of films, lectures, tours, and of course, mod parties,” stated Jacques Caussin, chairman.

The Modernism Week Schedule of Events presents over 80 events including the popular Double Decker Architecture Bus Tours, anInterior Design Home Tour, a Garden Tour, a Bike Tour, and an inaugural PreFab Showcase demonstrating 21st century environmental-friendly innovations with sophisticated design aesthetics.

“The 2012 Modernism Week is poised to set a new standard for a fun celebration of all things modern in our beautiful Palm Springs oasis,” added Caussin.





Resources:

www.modernismweek.com