UID:
kobvindex_INT0000307
Format:
1 DVD video (2 films : 52 + 53 minutes) :
,
sound ; colour with black & white sequences ;
,
12 cm ; image format : 1.33:1.
Content:
MACHINE-GENERATED SUMMARY NOTE ("Great Expectations"): "Great Expectations (a journey through the history of visionary architecture) is a 2007 documentary about the history of visionary architecture by director Jesper Wachtmeister. The film uses interviews to frame the history of utopian and visionary architecture through the 20th century. Subjects include Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Peter Cook, Buckminster Fuller, Moshe Safdie, Antti Lovag, [Superstudio, Archigram], Paolo Soleri, Peter Vetsch and Jacque Fresco."
Content:
MACHINE-GENERATED SUMMARY NOTE ("Great Expectations"): "This film takes the viewer on a journey through possible and impossible architecture projects - from the beginning of the 20th century to today. From concrete illusions of grandeur to round grass covered dwellings under ground. The viewer will meet world famous architects and visionaries like Buckminster Fuller and Le Corbusier and experience their visions and ideas of how to build us a better world. With the help of animations unrealized projects come to life in this documentary that shows astounding visions of a world - as it could have been. Since the end of the 19th century industrialized man has been confronted with new kinds of possibilities and problems, all of which in one way or another are the consequences of a storm of technological progress. Amidst the smoke and wars, architects and artists saw early on that this was a world full of possibilities, with plenty of room for visionary ideas. They were motivated and driven by the problems of the day, be it a shortage of housing, urban decay or pollution. Their visions brought changes in our ways of living and dwelling that challenged our concepts of the good, the true and the beautiful. In this documentary we encounter the Anthroposophist head quarters in Switzerland, the functionalist cities of Le Corbusier and Archigram's projects where pop-art meets architecture. We also meet the self-taught inventor Buckminster Fuller and his light weight constructions, and Antti Lovag - the protector of round houses. Also we visit Habitat 67 - a building conceived from LEGO, Superstudio and their world without objects, Paolo Soleri's crystal like cities in the desert, and ecological housing under ground. Great Expectations is a film about architecture projects and visions which have brought changes in our ways of living and dwelling that challenged our concepts of the good, the true and the beautiful. -- Jesper Wachtmeister." -- Great Expectations is the first documentary to present the grand architectural visions of our time. Visions where imagination has been allowed to run free. Sometimes unrealized and unbound by earthly conditions, sometimes realized and revolutionary to its inhabitants. But the film deals with far more than mere illusions of grandeur. It is the story of great thinkers who in different time-periods of the 20th century have suggested revolutionary changes to our ways of living - and how it is to live in their dreams. The answers vary, but the intentions of the architects were good - mostly. Using archive footage and animations, the film brings architecture of the past and plans never realized to life. Visiting inhabitants of the visions that became realized, their stories comment and contrast the ambitions of the architects. -- Jesper Wachtmeister."
Content:
MACHINE-GENERATED SUMMARY NOTE ("Great Expectations"): "Great Expectations takes you on an astonishing journey through innovative, futuristic, utopian and sometimes bizarre architectural projects -- including concrete illusions of grandeur and Lego-like modular apartments to an Instant City Airship and round, grass-covered subterranean dwellings -- from the beginning of the 20th century to today. Featuring: - Le Corbusier's functionalist cities - Buckminster Fuller's lightweight geodesic domes - Moshe Safdie's Habitat '67 prefab apartments - Rudolf Steiner's Goetheanum and other anthroposophy buildings in Switzerland - Oscar Niemeyer's sleek urban designs for Brasilia - Paolo Soleri's 'archology' of crystal-like desert cities - Antti Lovag's curved surfaces of Palais Bulles in France - Jacque Fresco's utopian Venus Project in Florida - Peter Cook and Colin Fournier's biomorphic Kunsthaus Graz in Austria."
Content:
MACHINE-GENERATED SUMMARY NOTE ("Kochuu"): "KOCHUU is a visually stunning film about modern Japanese architecture, its roots in the Japanese tradition, and its impact on the Nordic building tradition. Winding its way through visions of the future and traditional concepts, nature and concrete, gardens and high-tech spaces, the film explains how contemporary Japanese architects strive to unite the ways of modern man with the old philosophies in astounding constructions. KOCHUU, which translates as "in the jar," refers to the Japanese tradition of constructing small, enclosed physical spaces, which create the impression of a separate universe. The film illustrates key components of traditional Japanese architecture, such as reducing the distinction between outdoors and indoors, disrupting the symmetrical, building with wooden posts and beams rather than with walls, modular construction techniques, and its symbiotic relationship with water, light and nature. The film illustrates these concepts through remarkable views of the Imperial Katsura Palace, the Todai-Ji Temple, the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum, the Sony Tower, numerous teahouses and gardens (see link below for complete list), as well as examples of the cross-fertilization evidenced in buildings throughout Scandinavia, and shows how 'invisible' Japanese traditions are evident even in modern, high-tech buildings. KOCHUU also features interviews with some of Japan's leading architects as well as Scandinavian contemporaries including Pritzker Prize winners Tadao Ando and Sverre Fehn, Toyo Ito, Kazuo Shinohara, Kristian Gullichsen and Juhani Pallasmaa (see link below for complete list and bios). KOCHUU is a compelling illustration of how the aesthetics of Japanese architecture and design are expressed through simple means, and also shows that the best Japanese architecture, wherever it appears, expresses spiritual qualities that enrich human life." -- "A film about modern Japanese architecture, its roots in the Japanese tradition and its impact on the Nordic building-tradition. Winding its way through visions of the future, traditions, nature, concrete, gardens and high-tech the film tell us how contemporary Japanese architects strive to unite the ways of modern man with the old philosophies in astounding constructions."
Content:
MACHINE-GENERATED SUMMARY NOTE ("Kochuu"): "Featuring Pritzker Prize winning architects Tadao Ando and Sverre Fehn, plus Toyo Ito, Kisho Kurokawa and Kazuo Shinohara.
Content:
MACHINE-GENERATED REVIEWS NOTE ("Great Expectations"): "Dagens Nyheter reviewer Tomas Lisinski wrote that 'the astounding images of more or less bizarre projects were intertwined with a fantastic interview material. This was also a documentary that treated the viewer seriously. We were assumed capable of following a train of thought, and understanding interviews without meddlesome guidance.' (translated from Swedish)." -- "Leonardo reviewer Michael R. Mosher wrote that 'the architects articulate their visions, and the camera explores at least one of the major built accomplishments of each. Wachtmeister brings to his documentary a fun and light touch, with little bits of Monty Python-style animation, hand-colored photographs, even flying saucer noises. Archigram, and its London Pop Art-influenced publications, made him do it! Sometimes it's as if the filmmaker really doesn't put much stock in the promised completion of the Venus Project, but was happy to enjoy the trek in bejungled Florida alongside its talkative old planner Jacques Fresco.'"
Language:
English
Keywords:
Documentary films
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