FILM on ART @ Jacob Burns FILM Center


Opening Night, Wed. Jan. 16 at 7:15
Film, Food, Jazz & Live Art
HELVETICA
Gary Hustwit. 2007. 80 min. NR. UK.
"One of the most slyly intelligent and quietly captivating documentaries of the year." (Time Out London)
Perhaps the most influential expression of sleek, bold modernism is hidden in plain sight: the 50-year-old typeface called Helvetica. Found everywhere everyday - in ads and logos, on street and subway signs - it’s the ultimate in cool. Not just for font geeks, Hustwit’s thoroughly engaging film interweaves the history of Helvetica with passionate debate from graphic designers on the typeface’s political implications: Do its clean letters, proportions, and spacing inspire confidence, fairness, even perfection - or feed the impulse toward conformity and the corporate mindset?
Q&A: Michael Bierut, who is featured in the film, has won hundreds of awards including graphic design’s highest honor, the AIGA Medal. He’s a partner at the renowned firm Pentagram, as well as an author and founding writer of the Design Observer blog. His work is in the collections of MoMA and the Cooper-Hewitt. He’ll be interviewed by Peter Scherer, a partner at the H Plus design firm and trustee of the Village of Pleasantville.
A Celebration! Join us after the screening for good food, live jazz by Steve, Edie & Friends, and an art happening in which the collaborative group e.y.e (erase your ego) will spontaneously paint a series of canvases on the theme of typefaces. Come watch e.y.e get to work before the film, and stay afterward to party and bid on the finished paintings as we kick off this annual series.
Reception provided by Mrs. Green’s Natural Market.
Tickets: $15 (members), $20 (nonmembers)

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