Helvetica (film)
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| Helvetica | |
 |
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| Directed by | Gary Hustwit |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Gary Hustwit Swiss Dots Veer |
| Editing by | Shelby Siegel Laura Weinberg |
| Release date(s) | March 13, 2007 |
| Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Helvetica is an independent feature-length documentary film about typography and graphic design, centered around the typeface of the same name. Directed by Gary Hustwit, it was released in 2007 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the typeface's introduction in 1957. Its content consists of a history of the typeface interspersed with candid interviews with leading graphic and type designers, including Wim Crouwel, Michael Bierut, Erik Spiekermann, and Massimo Vignelli. The film aims to show Helvetica's beauty and ubiquity, and illuminate the personalities that are behind typefaces. It also explores the rift between modernists and postmodernists, with the latter expressing and explaining their criticisms of the famous typeface.
Helvetica premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2007. The film toured around the world for screenings in selected venues, such as the IFC Center in New York, the Institute of Contemporary Arts London, the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, and the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco. Helvetica was nominated for the 2008 Independent Spirit's Truer than Fiction Award.
Bands and musicians that contributed to the documentary's soundtrack include Four Tet, The Album Leaf, Kim Hiorthøy, Caribou, Battles, Sam Prekop of The Sea and Cake, and El Ten Eleven.
An edited version of the film was broadcast in the UK on BBC One in November 2007, as part of Alan Yentob's Imagine series. It aired in January 2009 as part of the Independent Lens series on PBS in the United States.
The film was released on DVD in November 2007 by Plexifilm.
Blu-ray Disc was produced by Matt Grady of Pixelfilm, released in May 2008. The limited (1500 copies) edition includes Gary Hustwit's autograph. The packaging of the Blu-ray version was designed by Experimental Jetset[1], who also appeared in the film. Sleeve was printed by A to Z Media.
[edit] Receptions
- The New York Sun editor Steve Dollar claimed the odd details and vocal asides made the movie more compelling than might be imagined.[2]
[edit] See also
Objectified, new documentary film about industrial design by Gary Hustwit.
