Lettera22

Il fiume ha sempre ragione(it)

Alberto Casiraghy and Josef Weiss are true bibliophile artists. One in Osnago, the other in Mendrisio, they have been dedicating themselves for years to valuable editorial and typographical activities, still printing with mobile characters, preserving the memory of a perfect ingenuity made of manual skills and technique, but also of inventiveness and poetry. Silvio Soldini gives us a realistic and poetical portrait of these two artists-artisans, who chose one of the oldest professions in a modern world, finding great success and approval.

Étienne Robial, un spécimen de caractère(s)(fr)

Documentary on the French graphic and visual artist and designer, editor, artistic director, and teacher who is known for his widely-used fonts.

Helvetica(en)

Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate 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.

Pressing On: The Letterpress Film(en)

Why has letterpress printing survived? Irreplaceable knowledge of the historic craft is in danger of being lost as its caretakers age. Fascinating personalities intermix with wood, metal, and type as young printers save a traditional process in Pressing On, a 4K feature-length documentary exploring the remarkable community keeping letterpress alive.

Hanzi(zh)

Hanzi is a documentary exploring international design, visual culture, and identity through the lens of modern Chinese typography. The film covers a variety of topics such as how languages shape identity, and what role handwriting plays in the digital age.

The Gutenberg Enigma(fr)

A portrait of the inventor of the letterpress, who was a key figure in the history of mankind, but also an enthusiastic inventor, a daring businessman, a tenacious troublemaker: the life of Johannes Gutenberg (circa 1400-68).

Everything Must Change: Piet Zwart(nl)

A fascinating documentary about Piet Zwart (1885–1977), an idiosyncratic and stubborn designer, who lived for innovation and prepared the way for the international success that is now known as Dutch Design. Piet Zwart worked as an interior and industrial designer, commercial typographer, photographer, critic and lecturer, playing a key role in defining the design climate in the Netherlands in the Twentieth Century. He is especially known for designing the famous ‘Piet Zwart’ kitchen for the Dutch company Bruynzeel: a kitchen that could be easily produced and consisted of standardized elements. His versatility and influence on present-day designers led the Association of Dutch Designers to award him the title of “Designer of the Century” in 2000.

The History of Typography(en)

A short, educational animation about the history of fonts and typography. In a paper cutout stop-motion style, it begins with Gutenberg's creation of the first typeface, travels through the innovations of Jenson, Caslon, and Bodoni, to the modern creation of Futura and the democratization of fonts in the digital age. A charming, engaging film about a technology that is all around us, but few people know much about.

Máquinas de palabras(es)

Hollywood at Last!(en)

Dedicated Dutch graphic designer Piet Schreuders visits Los Angeles to investigate all kinds of typeface as used in title-credits for movies and TV-series, letters on billboards, shop-windows or street-signs, the banner-headlines of The Los Angeles Times, and climbs finally to the giant letters of the HOLLYWOOD-sign. In the meantime he discovers, to his great satisfaction, the location and stairs where Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy shot their movie 'The Musicbox', by combining street-signs, partially shown on still-pictures of this movie: "…MONTE" and "…ENDOME", which turn out to be found on the street corner of Del Monte and Vendome in Culver City. This documentary is bluntly intercut with commercials, a phenomenon not yet known in the Netherlands in 1979. (Theo Uittenbogaard)

Ake & Ch(en)

Words that end in -ake and start with ch-. A typographic animation.

Letters O, P, and R(en)

Words that start with the letter O, P, and R. A typographic animation.

Grandma, Please Tell Us About the Holodomor(uk)

This is a story about generations and the importance of preserving historical memory. The grandmother of one of the protagonists, Svitlana Zalishchuk, left behind a diary in which she recorded her memories of the terrible times. Veronika, a 12-year-old girl from Uman, and her mother made a film for the Autumn on Pluto 2.0 project about her grandmother Ksenia Logvyniuk, who told us where people found food and how they escaped starvation. Sasha, another 12-year-old protagonist of the film, did not find her great-grandmother alive, but she recreated her relative's experiences based on her father's stories.

Curious People: An Incomplete History of Nine Lessons & Compendium(en)

Almost two decades after comedian Robin Ince’s original idea to mash up science with comedy, music and culture in a new variety show, Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless/Curious People and Robin and Brian's Christmas Compendium of Reason are still here brightening the dark days of winter with a joyous celebration of all things curious and creative. This feature length documentary charts the evolution of those pioneering and legendary science variety nights that have attracted legions of fans both on and off the stage and raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity. With loads of exclusive interviews and never before seen behind the scenes footage we look at how one person's 'stupid idea' ended up changing the shape of science communication and entertainment forever, moving science from the classroom to arenas.

Nallar och människor(en)

A group of teddybears awaken in the attic after years of storage. Store-Nalle (Big Teddy) explains the history of the species, from the very first teddybears manufactured in Germany. Other segments include dramatizations of the directors' childhood memories, as well as interviews with several stuffed animal owners.

A Good Year(uk)

A year ago, on 29 December 2019, prisoners were exchanged with the self-proclaimed ‘LPR’ and ‘DPR’. Among the Ukrainians who returned home were journalist Stanislav Aseyev, tanker Bohdan Pantiushenko, and human rights activist Andriy Yarovoi. Four months earlier, on 7 September, Crimeans Oleg Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko were released from Russian colonies. We spoke to the former prisoners about their first year of freedom.

Red Backpacks(uk)

Boy Andrii who together with a faithful friend - a boxer dog - goes on a unique journey through Bessarabia. According to the task of the grandfather-scientist, a young hero and a friend named Rei, it is necessary to find rare and endangered animals from the Red Book. In addition to photos of representatives of the fauna, they will discover new territories for themselves. The feature film was edited from five episodes of the documentary project of the same name. The project included five program series for young and middle school children.

American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes(en)

This intimate and revealing documentary follows professional wrestler, Cody Rhodes, from leaving the WWE to his eventual return to WrestleMania and his journey chasing the WWE championship一a feat his father, "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, never accomplished.

So Unreal(en)

A cinephile collage, both historical and philosophical, of films on artificial intelligence, cyberspace and virtual reality, from 1981 to 2001: cinema as a way and an instrument to cope with humanity's euphoria, anxiety, fear and obsession with technology.

Jane Birkin et nous(fr)

Jane Birkin has forged a unique bond with France and the French. Between the small Englishwoman, muse of Gainsbourg, then of Doillon or Chéreau, and her adopted country, love at first sight was immediate and lasted for more than fifty years. This documentary goes back, through the prism of this unique bond, to the life and career of a peculiar artist in the French musical and cinematographic landscape. The intimate portrait of a freedom-loving woman.