Objectified: Design Documentary

Going down to the 2009 Hot Docs Festival to check ‘Objectified’, a new film by Gary Hustwit (see also: Helvetica film) examining the role of design in society. Screening at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto, Monday May 4th @ 9:15pm.

Synopsis
From telephones to toothpicks, nearly everything that fills our world is designed. Objects look and work the way they do because someone made them that way. Director Gary Hustwit examines industrial design’s sweeping cultural impact with the same curiosity and cinematic craft of his graphic design hit, Helvetica. International stars including Karim Rashid, Marc Newson, Apple’s Jonathan Ive, and Braun’s Dieter Rams share their philosophies and fab products, bringing the driving forces of the field into perfectly composed focus: “good” industrial design makes the product supreme, but the design invisible. In an age where forms cannot possibly resemble the myriad of functions they now perform, however, what will our world look like? How does design’s drive for “new and improved” reconcile with environmental sustainability? And how do individuals express themselves through mass-produced “stuff”? Objectified is a fascinating look at our relationship with objects and the people who design them. Myrocia Watamaniuk.