FILM / VIDEO
HELVETICA
Directed by
Gary Hustwit
Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography,
graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation
of one
typeface (which celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a
larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The
film is an exploration
of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and
a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative
process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.
Interviewees in Helvetica include some of the most illustrious and
innovative names in the design world, including Erik Spiekermann, Matthew
Carter,
Massimo Vignelli, Wim Crouwel, Hermann Zapf, Neville Brody, Stefan
Sagmeister, Michael Bierut, David Carson, Paula Scher, Jonathan Hoefler,
Tobias Frere-Jones,
Experimental Jetset, Michael C. Place, Norm, Alfred Hoffman, Mike Parker,
Bruno Steinert, Otmar Hoefer, Leslie Savan, Rick Poynor, Lars Muller,
and many more.
“ Like its seemingly neutral Swiss-born subject, the film says a great
deal without raising its voice, lending wit and grace to an inquiry
regarding the way a medium, a squiggle or the precise space between two letters
affects a million different messages and a billion different eyeballs.
The real achievement of the picture, though, is the way it sharpens
your
eye in general and makes connections between form and content, and
between art and life. By rounding up a great group of eloquent obsessives eager
to explain their feelings about a font, Hustwit has come up with 80
unexpectedly
blissful minutes.
–Chicago Tribune
“
Funny to think that a font movie would have the potential to restore one’s
faith in art and its myriad meanings, but it does.”
–Minneapolis City Pages
“ With beautiful cinematography, a kickass soundtrack, and one delightfully
quotable interview after another, this little doc about a font is truly a work
of art.”
–Austin Chronicle
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