Filmfest 2012

The story of a Dutchman's chair that changed history.

Presented by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, De Stoel van Rietveld tells the story around the creation of Gerrit Rietveld’s Red Blue Chair in 1917. His then-outlandish brainchild was regarded a major innovation in design. In 1923 it was painted in such a way that the chair appeared to float. More akin to sculpture than furniture, it is now housed in MoMA’s permanent collection. From humble beginnings as a Dutch cabinet-maker’s son, Rietveld went on to become a principal member of De Stijl artistic movement, ultimately becoming a globally celebrated architect and furniture designer.

Vigilantes take to the street to rid the world of graffiti. There’s a new breed of crime-fighters in the urban landscape, dedicated to ridding their cities of the graffiti they see as a scourge on their cities. These mysterious citizens are now in direct, sometimes violent, conflict with both the graffiti artists and the law itself in what has become a fight for the freedom of expression. Vigilante Vigilante is the story of two filmmakers seeking to uncover this furtive world, documenting the obsessive battle for control of a city’s visual identity and asking the question: who are the real vandals.

During their summer internship, six international design students from the TU Delft in the Netherlands created this documentary along with Zilver Innovation. “Documenting how design is changing the way we see and do business,” it explores the increasingly inextricable relationship between design and business and the challenges that they pose one another. Featuring case studies and interviewees immersed in a variety of interdisciplinary design fields, the 38-minute-long film, presented by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, creates a discussion around the diversity in design thinking that exists, and its significance to the real world.

Architecture meets landscape in the innovative work of Petra Blaisse and her firm, Inside Outside.

Presented by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Movements Continued is a 40-minute documentary about the work of Petra Blaisse and her firm, Inside Outside. The Dutch designer launched her career at the Stedelijk Museum, working with architectural installations. Her focus later shifted to landscape design, textiles and interiors. Founded in 1991, Inside Outside originated when Blaisse began inviting international designers to work with her, and since then their work has featured in exhibits around the world. Unique in their approach, the firm combines multidisciplinary expertise, weaving together architecture and landscape in their innovative projects.

Vigilantes take to the street to rid the world of graffiti. There’s a new breed of crime-fighters in the urban landscape, dedicated to ridding their cities of the graffiti they see as a scourge on their cities. These mysterious citizens are now in direct, sometimes violent, conflict with both the graffiti artists and the law itself in what has become a fight for the freedom of expression. Vigilante Vigilante is the story of two filmmakers seeking to uncover this furtive world, documenting the obsessive battle for control of a city’s visual identity and asking the question: who are the real vandals.

Enter the intriguing world of German artist Anselm Kiefer.

German artist Anselm Kiefer is in a tussle with the past, producing paintings, sculptures and installations that are often dark and haunting. Since 2000, he has been absorbed in his work at a derelict silk factory in France, reimagining the abandoned space and creating a world of tunnels, towers and pavilions. Through this film, presented by the Goethe Institute, the audience becomes immersed in Kiefer’s strange and inventive world, as he unfolds a world of austere beauty.

An insider's view of "The Most Influential Restaurant in the World".

“Going to eat in an avant-garde restaurant gives you something like a creative emotion” – or so says Ferran Adrià, head chef of El Bulli, and speaker at Design Indaba Conference 2010. El Bulli is renowned for being four-time winner of The World's 50 Best Restaurants, and for closing its doors for half the year to foster new ideas. In July 2011, they closed for the last time. In this documentary, filmmaker Gereon Wetzel compiles exclusive footage of the restaurant's inner workings, both during its open and its closed seasons, providing a final, voyeuristic glimpse into what goes on behind the doors of the best restaurant in the world. A gastronome’s delight.

Director/producer Graham Elliott has worked in all areas of commercial art, from illustration to advertising to animation and motion design. With his recent documentary, he explores New York’s thriving industry, “the beating heart of the motion design scene”, evoking the powerful relationship between our lives, as individuals and as a community and a culture, and motion graphics, which Elliot believes “connects to core human concepts of communication and art and expression”. Authored by motion graphics’ key players, the film in itself is testament to the power of the medium.

Filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and his friends are on a mission: to dive through the dumpsters of America’s supermarkets and rescue the fresh food they have needlessly thrown away. While the nightly raids seem like a game, the trawls of this dumpster-diving community illuminate the ugly truth about the vast quantities of wasted food: millions of dollars of edible produce that could be donated to those who really need it. Told with humour and compassion, Dive! takes us inside a broken system, examining a hidden conflict between the just and the legal.

“As the consequences of our past inaction become ever more apparent, designing for a sustainable future becomes a necessity, not a choice,” says Norman Foster. His architecture firm, Foster + Partners, is one of the world’s most high profile, being responsible for landmarks like London’s Millennium Bridge, City Hall, ‘the Gherkin’ and the new Wembley Stadium, as well as the world’s tallest bridge, The Millau Viaduct, and largest building, Beijing Airport. This award-winning film is a foray into Foster’s design of such enigmatic icons and his forward-thinking solutions in the face of urban drift.

The punk movement's untold journey through the landscape and politics of southern Africa.

A South African-Czech co-production directed by Deon Maas and Keith Jones, this feature-length socio-political music documentary is heavily embedded in South Africa’s pre-democratic politics. Punk in Africa tells the story of the punk movement’s emergence as an anti-establishment subculture that fought against apartheid’s racial segregation and sought to unite people through music. In an intriguing weave of interviews, performances, rare historical footage and press snippets, Maas and Jones track punk in Africa, highlighting the parallels between punk rebellion and the liberation struggle in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and further afield.

The story of Jack Cardiff's legacy as one of the world's greatest cinematographers.

With a 90-year film career starting as a child actor at four, Jack Cardiff has been referred to as “the greatest colour photographer that ever lived”. In 2011, Cardiff posthumously became the first-ever director of photography to win an Honorary Oscar – 54 years after receiving his first Academy Award, for Best Cinematography. Featuring interviews with Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Martin Scorsese, Charlton Heston, and Jack Cardiff himself, this documentary feature film, presented by the British Council, traces the life and work of a man whose influence in film spans cinematic history, from silent film through to 21st-century filmmaking.

Urbanized is the much-anticipated final instalment of the Gary Hustwit design film trilogy.

This must-see is the final film in the Gary Hustwit design trilogy, a series of documentaries that also includes the award-winning Helvetica (2007) and Objectified (2009). While the first two films in the trilogy expound on typography and industrial design respectively, Urbanized takes a closer look at architecture and urban design in an examination of how cities are shaped. One of the cities in the spotlight is Cape Town. The feature-length film showcases some of the world's foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders and thinkers in an insightful global discussion on the design of cities.

Uncovering what is possible with art and design.

Filmed as part of the Creative Inspiration series, this documentary takes an intimate look at the work of an extraordinary designer “motivated by uncovering what is possible with art and design”.  Taking us deep into the world of her startlingly intricate creations, from her private workspace near Vancouver to the public arena of her one-woman show, Bantjes speaks vividly and candidly about design and the design world. The film features interviews from her many prestigious collaborators, including design legends Debbie Millman, Michael Beirut and Paula Scher.