The 2020-2021 NCModernist/ModHomes Architecture Movie Series
Sponsored by ModHomes Realtor
Sarah Sonke
plus
NCSU Libraries and the Chelsea Theatre
The Chelsea is a beloved Chapel Hill art house theatre that in normal times features fresh organic popcorn, local craft beers, and curated wine and soft drink sections. This year we're ONLINE and GLOBAL with their web viewing platform. We've got six exciting architecture films, one a month through March 2021! Proceeds benefit the nonprofit documentation, preservation, and promotion work of NCModernist.
The New Bauhaus
Monday, October 5As the Nazis took over Germany, many of the displaced Bauhaus masters found refuge in the United States. In 1937, László Moholy-Nagy came to Chicago to start the New Bauhaus. The school was far from successful initially, but through its various incarnations, Moholy-Nagy and his New Bauhaus forever transformed design, photography and arts education in America and beyond. In Chicago, The New Bauhaus evolved from its origins at the German Bauhaus into an extraordinary flowering of interdisciplinary design pedagogy premised on the notion that “the whole field of contemporary architecture and design must be based upon an indivisible unification of formerly separated and independent fields.”
How to View: Starting at 6pm on October 5th and ending at 9pm on October 7th, go to the Chelsea Theatre's website. Pick The New Bauhaus and you'll be taken to the film streaming platform, where you'll register (free). At that point, purchase your ticket, and you have 48 hours from that point to stream the film. You have the ability to stop and resume viewing anytime during those 48 hours.
On Thursday, October 8, all ticket purchasers will be invited to a special Zoom Q&A call on Friday, October 9, at 830pm ET with producer Alyssa Nahmias.
Frey Part II: The Architectural Interpreter
Monday, November 2In a follow up to last year's Frey I, Frey II starts in 1939. Swiss-born Corbusian architectural envoy Albert Frey embarks on a decades-long journey of discovery. His world travels and love of nature would lead him to carve out a new style of modernism, leaving its indelible mark on the desert community of Palm Springs, California. With never-before-seen archival films, photographs and interviews, this film continues to reveal the mystique of an influential architectural master. Plus it has spectacular footage of Frey's work in Palm Springs. Featuring producer Jake Gorst and co-star George Smart by Zoom for Q&A, TBA.
Visual Acoustics
Monday-Wednesday, December 7-9Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, this film celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the world’s greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream. Shulman, who passed away in 2009, captured the work of nearly every modern and progressive architect since the 1930s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Frank Gehry. His images epitomized the singular beauty of Southern California’s modernist movement and brought its iconic structures to the attention of the general public. This unique film is both a testament to the evolution of modern architecture and a joyful portrait of the magnetic, whip-smart gentleman who chronicled it with his unforgettable images. Featuring producer Eric Bricker by Zoom for Q&A, TBA.
Goff
Monday, January 11American architect Bruce Goff tried to go beyond infinity throughout his career, exploring the possibilities of architecture from an unconventional point of view, using common materials in innovative ways and coming up with futuristic combinations of colours and textures. During a long teaching career, Goff also developed projects for private clients, among them Ledbetter House (1947), Bachman House (1948), and Bavinger House (1950). Goff’s willingness to explore unprecedented forms, his passion for new materials, shapes and solutions, meant that his work wasn't often received in a favourable light from more conservative environments. Featuring Producer Britni Harris for Q&A, TBA.
The Man and the Architect: Jorn Utzon
Monday, February 1This documentary tells the story of Sydney Opera House architect Jørn Utzon's unique gift, brought to the world with the unending support of Lis, the love of his life. His story is told by the people who were closest to him: his children, close colleagues and friends, who share their open, honest anecdotes and experiences of him as an architect and a man. The film is a portrait of a devoted humanitarian and a sensitive and loving soul.
Featuring producer Lene Borch Hansen for Q&A, TBA.
Watch TrailerLeisurama
Monday, March 1Leisurama is a compelling documentary about architecture and design. Leisurama concept was born out of a model home, with interiors by Raymond Loewy, shown at the American National Exhibit in Moscow in 1959 — site of the famous "kitchen debate" between Krushchev and Nixon. The model house shown there was an incipient Cold War symbol, a testament of the quality of life enjoyed by the average American. A developer subsequently had the idea to build an entire colony of affordable vacation homes on Montauk, designed by Andrew Geller, who designed banks and stores for Loewy but on his own gained acclaim for his fantastic, angular beach houses. As Geller describes in the film, he gave the developer many different ideas for the home designs of what would become the "Leisurama" community, but they went with essentially the one most similar to existing suburban "ranchburgers," as Alastair Gordon puts it. Featuring Q&A with Producer Jake Gorst, TBA.
The Human Shelter
Monday, April 5How do we construct homes in today’s worldwide hotspots which are facing the challenges of climate change, globalization and migration? How do people create shelters and feel at home with others and in their bodies? Boris Benjamin Bertram’s film The Human Shelter, explores different people’s ways of creating their homes around the globe. In a refugee camp outside Mosul, in a shanty town on the lagoon in Lagos, or in six square metres in the megacity of Tokyo. The exploring director also visits the Sami reindeer herders in the arctic circle, and NASA’s futuristic Mars habitat in Hawaii, USA. It’s a poetic expedition around four continents. An existential film about how we construct and articulate stories about our homes.
Coming in 2021
Neutra: Survival Through Design
A comprehensive documentary into the 125-year life, work, and times of Austrian/American Architect Richard Neutra – the legacy which continued through the preservation work of sons Raymond and Dion Neutra.
Featuring Q&A with producer PJ Letofsky by phone after the movie.