Design Indaba 2008:
Font cult movie premieres in South Africa

Design Indaba is pleased to present the South African premiere of Helvetica – a film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. Running concurrently with the Design Indaba Expo, Helvetica will be showing from February 22 to 27, 2008, at 8.30pm in the Labia Theatre on Orange Street.

Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about the world’s most ubiquitous font. Having played to sold-out audiences around the world since the font’s 50th birthday in July 2007, the movie’s success attests to the growing global awareness of design and its influence on society. As such, the film is an exploration of urban spaces and the type that inhabits them, accompanied by interviews with renowned designers about their work, the creative process and the choices behind their use of type.

The film's creator and director Gary Hustwit explains:
“I was walking around, looking at the type and the way people interacted with it, and I just saw the whole film in my head. I wanted to do a documentary about graphic design, and I thought – well, Helvetica is the most ubiquitous typeface in our lives, why not that?”

“This film really hits home on how design has shaped the world we live in – a topic particularly close to Design Indaba's heart with our ethos of a better world through design,” said Ravi Naidoo, founder of Design Indaba and director of Interactive Africa.

Interviewees in Helvetica include some of the most illustrious and innovative names in the design world – many of whom have previously spoken at Design Indaba. Of course they don’t always agree: Is Helvetica the safest and most boring font or the most powerful and ubiquitous?

Expect the likes of Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Wim Crouwel, Hermann Zapf, Neville Brody, Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Bierut, David Carson, Paula Scher, Jonathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones, Experimental Jetset, Michael C Place, Norm, Alfred Hoffmann, Mike Parker, Bruno Steinert, Otmar Hoefer, Leslie Savan, Rick Poynor, Lars Müller and many more, weighing in on the debate.

“We are always trying to extend our venue to include interesting concepts and this is yet another topic that we hope will excite the cinema lover,” said Labia programmer Ludi Ellman.

Friday February 22 to Wednesday February 27, 2008, at 8.30pm
Labia on Orange
68 Orange Street
Gardens, Cape Town

More info and bookings at Tel: 021 424 5927

Notes to editor
For more info contact the Labia on Tel: 021 424 5927

Websites
www.labia.co.za
www.designindaba.com

For more info on Helvetica
www.helveticafilm.com

About the director

Gary Hustwit has produced five feature documentaries, including I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, the award-winning film about the band Wilco; Moog, the documentary about electronic music pioneer Robert Moog; and Drive Well, Sleep Carefully, a tour film about the band Death Cab for Cutie. Helvetica is Hustwit's directorial debut. Hustwit worked with punk label SST Records in the late-1980s, ran the independent book publishing house Incommunicado Press during the 1990s, was vice president of the media website Salon.com in 2000, and started the indie DVD label Plexifilm in 2001.

In the media

“A full-length documentary, shot on a credit-card budget and made up of interviews with designers and typographers, [that] has somehow become a global phenomenon,” – Andrew Dickson in The Guardian

“With Helvetica [Gary Hustwit] produces a gleefully engaging investigation into the world’s most ubiquitous typeface, uncovering a minor shit storm in the world of graphic design as well as broadening the cinematic and analytical potential of the documentary form in the process.” – David Jenkins in Time Out London

“You’re guaranteed to spend the next few days scanning the world for Helvetica like a child on a cross-country car trip playing I Spy.” – Matt Zoller Seitz in The New York Times.

“It follows that the film, which was shot in Amsterdam, Berlin, Zurich, London and New York, is also a valuable document about recent transformations in Western urbanism.” – Sukhdev Sandhu in The Telegraph

“This does not sound like promising cinematic material. Yet like its seemingly neutral Swiss-born subject, the film says a great deal without raising its voice, lending wit and grace to an inquiry regarding the way a medium, a squiggle or the precise space between two letters affects a million different messages and a billion different eyeballs.” – Michael Phillips in The Chicago Tribune.

DESIGN INDABA 2008
Design Indaba will fortify as the South African Design Week in 2008, with the expo and conference programme running over a week from Saturday 23 February to Friday 29 February 2008.

DESIGN INDABA EXPO
For the fifth time, the Design Indaba Expo will offer a curated commercial platform for South African designers to showcase local goods and services to the global market. Based on the success of the 2007 event, which played host to more than 20 000 visitors, the 2008 event has been extended for an extra day, running from Saturday 23 to Tuesday 26 February, 2008. The Expo will also be even bigger than before with more floor space, a host of new exhibitors and a brand-new dedicated fashion arena with day-long shows and movie festivals.

DESIGN INDABA CONFERENCE
The Design Indaba Conference will run from Wednesday 27 February to Friday 29 February, 2008. Judged the best conference in the world by EIBTM in Barcelona, the conference has played host to luminaries from all over the world since 1995 and been sold out for the past three years.

SPECIALIST INDABAS
Due to demand from delegates and the public to attend the Specialist Indabas, these will run parallel to the Expo on Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 February 2008. These two-hour architecture, fashion and jewellery events feature local and international designers debating the contribution of these creative sectors to the South African economy. Bookings for Specialist Indabas open at Computicket on 14 January 2008.

YOUNG DESIGNERS SIMULCAST
As part of Design Indaba’s ongoing commitment to design education, Design Indaba 2008 will again offer a Young Designers Simulcast, catering to young designers and students under the age of 25. This is a live broadcast from the main plenary session to a second auditorium. Students and young designers will be able to access speakers in short, informal chat sessions during and at the end of the day.

DESIGN INDABA JOURNALISM WORKSHOP
For the first time, Design Indaba is presenting the Design Indaba Journalism Workshop in conjunction with the Design Indaba Expo taking place from February 23 to 26, 2008. New York design critic and assistant professor at Parsons, Susan Yelavich will lead the workshop with the assistance of an international team of acclaimed editors, journalists and writers. The cost is R1500 per person. To apply for participation, please contact Deborah Weber.

For more detailed information about the above activities taking place, and for related high-resolution images, please contact:

Deborah Weber
E-mail: deborah@interactiveafrica.com

Nadine Botha
E-mail: nadine@interactiveafrica.com

Tel: (021) 465 9966
Website: www.designindabaexpo.com