Lettera22

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.

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.

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).

Máquinas de palabras(es)

Portrait of a Mexico City neighborhood where pages and pages are printed, and little by little, words appear. Máquinas de Palabras is a performance created in March 2023 in Mexico City, and is the result of a collaboration between Labo K (Rennes-based film laboratory) and LEC (Laboratorio de Cine Experimental) in Mexico City. A portrait of a Mexico City neighborhood where pages and pages are printed. And little by little, words appear... "From the deliberate use of found images to films that make uncompromising use of raw material, the camera and the plants will take our eyes... Pupils will certainly be illuminated by the projector... How can moving images stay in our heads?"

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Tight Pants Ultra Bold(en)

Georgie discusses a bubble font he designed and released himself -- to no acclaim.

Jim'll Fix It with Shane Richie(en)

Shane Richie hosts a special Christmas edition of this much-loved family show. Celebrity guests and experts join Shane to help make dreams come true for a whole new generation.

Remote Occlusions(xx)

No flickering. No noise. No artifacts. No hard lights that cast shadows. No fog, clouds, trees, or buildings. No conditions of slow-moving or stopped people for long periods. No moving objects whose appearance is similar to the target in the areas of interest. No waving objects that cause the continuous modification of the image in the area of interest, for example a meadow with tall grass. The target must have a minimum height of 30 pixels, which is at least 1/10 of the image height. The body of the target must be visible for at least 3/4 of its height. The target must have a minimum area of 100 pixels and stay in the interested area for a time of at least 1 second. The target must also maintain a sufficient dissimilarity from the background, which means at least a color difference of 5% or a brightness difference of 10%. The image must have a resolution of 640x360, 640x480, 320x180, or 320x240 pixels and must be in landscape orientation with 16:9 aspect ratio.

A Very English Village(en)

Storyville film-maker Luke Holland , who has lived in Ditchling on the East Sussex Downs for the last ten years, explores aspects of village life past and present. He begins with a look at how economic uncertainty and the controversial ban on hunting with hounds have adversely affected a local farming family.

London Visitors(en)

The film takes us to the North of England to follow the migration of the black-headed gull down to London. There, the narrator asks viewers to "listen to their gossip", before demonstrating the bird’s flight in slow motion. We see a polecat feasting on gull eggs, and then a man collecting the eggs for human consumption, with the film telling us that they are considered a “delicacy” in London. Indeed, according to the British Trust for Ornithology, around 300,000 gull’s eggs were sold every year in Leadenhall Market in London during the 1930s, when London Visitors was made.

All About Jesus – Who Is This Jesus?(en)

Hosted by D. James Kennedy, PH.D. and Dean Jones. Enriched with scenes from the dramatic mini-series A.D., this fast pace documentary provides exciting explanations to some of the most important questions ever asked regarding the most controversial man who ever lived -- Jesus Christ.

Enigmatico(en)

Interweaving poetry, painting, photography, music and sculpture, this feature documentary is an innovative look at the lives and work of Canadian men and women artists of Italian origin. Broaching issues of identity and culture, the film explores the relationship between the immigrant experience and the creative process.

Miłość bez ustawki(pl)