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Modernism, Inc. film image; man in suit stands outside an IBM

Modernism, Inc.

Portraits

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Eliot Noyes was a trailblazing industrial designer, architect, and lifelong innovator who spent four decades introducing the design principles of modernism to American life. Noyes’ artistic legacy was overshadowed by his corporate legacy, as the film documents his increasing level of influence at IBM via his lifelong ambition to demystify design, stripping away unnecessary and superfluous flourishes in favour of simple, organic design. Director Jason Cohn (Eames: The Architect and Painter) interweaves Noyes’ family life with his professional achievements and larger cultural shifts in general, exploring how aesthetic principles of design and modernism were integrated into daily life and society while anchoring the film in Eliot Noyes’ fascinating biography.

From illuminating interviews with surviving friends and family to unearthed archival footage and expert analysis, the film explores how Noyes’ Bauhaus-inspired ideals about social-centred design revolutionized the corporate world until the counterculture movement challenged its results. Eliot Noyes’s story opens up a window into the heart and soul of modernism and industrial design in postwar America.

 

Presented by

Media Partner

Community Partner

Director
Featuring

Sebastian Roché

Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

2023

Language

English

Film Contact
Links
18+

At The Cinematheque

19+

At Fifth Avenue

79 min
Documentary
Bread & Butter Films

Book Tickets

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Credits & Director

Producer

Camille Servan-Schreiber

Screenwriter

Jason Cohn

Cinematography

Hans Bouma, Richard Chisolm, Eric Coughlin, Mario Furloni, Jason Longo, Petr Stepanek, Thorsten Thielow

Editor

Jason Cohn, Kevin Jones

Original Music

Steven Emerson

Jason Cohn headshot; Modernism, Inc. director

Jason Cohn

Jason Cohn is a writer, producer and director who has worked in print, radio, television, and film. He is the Peabody Award-winning director of Eames: The Architect and the Painter (2011) and The First Angry Man (2019), which traces the roots of the American Tax Revolt to a California ballot initiative. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and Rolling Stone Magazine. He is a two-time finalist for the Library of Congress-Levine-Ken Burns Prize for Documentary Film.

Filmography: Eames: The Architect and the Painter (2011); The First Angry Man (2019)

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