Lettera22

Hanzi

May 2017 •Chinese

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

September 2007 •English

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

September 2017 •French

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).

Everything Must Change: Piet Zwart

September 2012 •Dutch

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.

Pressing On: The Letterpress Film

May 2017 •English

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.

Étienne Robial, un spécimen de caractère(s)

May 2023 •French

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

September 2016 •Italian

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.

The History of Typography

May 2013 •English

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.

Hollywood at Last!

August 1979 •English

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)

Máquinas de palabras

March 2023 •Spanish

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?"

Ake & Ch

January 1991 •English

Words that end in -ake and start with ch-. A typographic animation.

Letters O, P, and R

January 1992 •English

Words that start with the letter O, P, and R. A typographic animation.

Messiah from Montreal

October 2001 •English

Documentary on Jewish Canadian poet A.M. Klein and his influence on Canadian poetry.

The White Maiden

May 1991 •Russian

A drinking play with cannons and fireworks.

The Singing Ape, Gibbon

October 2017 •Korean

Humans belong to a group called anthropoids. Gibbons have the most human-like traits among the anthropoids. Gibbons are the only apes capable to sing like humans and communicate through their songs. This film documents an unprecedented attempt to investigate the musicality of multiple species of wild gibbons - siamang, the white-handed gibbon and the javan gibbon - surviving in the South-East Asians habitats. The story of endangered Asian Ape unfolds in this documentary with their songs in various situations.

sanah NA STADIONACH

December 2024 •Polish

While preparing for a sold-out stadium show, Polish pop star sanah shares her journey to stardom through archival footage and intimate interviews.

Moments That Shaped Queer Black Britain

June 2022 •English

Charting key moments that shaped the history of Britain's black queer community, this film reveals how the largely undocumented struggles of activists created the platforms black LGBTQIA+ people enjoy today.

La Bussola - Il collezionista di stelle

February 2024 •Italian

The American War

March 2018 •English

Using obscure archival footage, animated illustrations and interviews, this film tells the story of the Vietnam War from the perspective of five Vietcong veterans: a soldier, an officer, an informant, a guerilla, a My Lai survivor, and the leader of the Long Hair army.

Carré Saint-Louis: une histoire populaire

October 2019 •French

This documentary invites you on a historical-poetic journey through this legendary little square which, for over a century, was a meeting place for bohemians and outsiders, artists from elsewhere and the most fervent independence supporters.