Resene Architecture & Design Film Festival.
Rialto Cinemas, Resene and Clearly & Co have collaborated on a tremendous line up for the eighth annual Resene Architecture & Design Film Festival.
Context is critical in design, and our most successful work is grounded in time and place. For those of us designing today, there is significant value in studying, collecting and curating our past as well as looking to what our peers are creating today.
This year’s line-up will showcase the most acclaimed and current films in architecture and design, including documentaries on this century’s finest architects, superstars in the design field and movements for environmental change.
Now the second largest architecture and design film festival in the world. Resene Marketing Manager Karen Warman says “this festival helps to remind us all how important creativity and great design is.
The festival will play nationwide in eight locations:
• AUCKLAND (Rialto Cinemas Newmarket): 2-19 May
• WELLINGTON (Embassy Theatre): 23 May – 9 June
• DUNEDIN (Rialto Cinemas): 13–23 June
• CHRISTCHURCH (Academy Gold): 27 June – 10 July
• NEW PLYMOUTH (EVENT Cinemas): 20-26 June
• HAVELOCK NORTH (EVENT Cinemas): 13-19 June
To see the complete programme visit: https://www.rialto.co.nz/EventsFestivals/ReseneArchitectureDesignFilmFestival#cinemas=750,751
The festival films have been grouped into themes, so audiences can navigate towards stories they are most curious about. Three films DA is particularly excited by are;
Bauhaus Spirit
100 years ago, a radical artistic utopia was born in a small German town — one whose principles continue to influence our world today.
The Bauhaus was undoubtedly the most influential school in design practice. Founded in 1911 by Walter Gropius, Bauhaus was supposed to unite sculpture, painting, design and architecture into a single combined constructive discipline; a synthesis of free imagination and strict structure, enrichment and simplification, light and clarity.
Beyond its distinctive aesthetics, the schools approach to teaching, and to the relationship between art, society, and technology, still have a formative impact our profession today.
RAMS
Who inspired the design of our iPhones? Dieter Rams. He played a major role in defining mid-century product design and, at age 86, remains one of the most important living designers today. Rams, started his career as an architect, joined German household appliance company Braun in 1955. Over the next 40 years, he created products for Braun and furniture company Vitsoe which were simple, functional, and designed to last a lifetime.
RAMS is the newest work of filmmaker Gary Hustwit, who directed Helvetica, one of the design world’s best-known documentaries. Hustwit’s choice of Brian Eno’s original score sets the tone for Hustwit to share Rams’ philosophy. Rams is concerned with the environmental impact of his products, the role he played in pushing society towards materialism. Pioneering the motto, ‘Less, but better’, Rams continues to champion sustainability in design.
Design Canada
A single maple leaf on a plain white background flanked by two red borders; the instantly recognisable, iconic flag of Canada.
The Canadian flag was actually born from a specially appointed flag committee in the 1960s, with the help of thousands of suggestions from the public. Until then, Canada flew either the Union Jack or the Canadian Red Ensign, a design based on the flag used by British naval vessels and Canada’s Coat of Arms.
A must-see for any graphic design enthusiast, Design Canada details the creative process which shaped a nation’s identity, and the transformative power of design in Canada’s history from a colonial outpost to a modern, multicultural society. What defines a national identity? A logo or icon? A flag? How do these elements represent and share who we are to the rest of the world?
Produced by Gary Hustwit and Jessica Edwards, the powerhouse team behind RAMS and Helvetica, this is not your average design documentary. Design Canada shows us what it looks like when a nation unites under good design.
