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
Sebastian Roché
USA
2023
English
At The Cinematheque
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
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
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)
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
Possible Love
Lee Chang-dong’s first film since Burning (2018) is a sardonic, slow-burning satire about two couples: a documentary filmmaker married to a wealthy businessman, and a working-class family struggling to make ends meet after the husband has been laid off.
The Exorcist
Thirteen-year-old Linda Blair is Regan, the movie star daughter who is possessed by a demon, and whose body becomes a spiritual battleground. It builds slowly, carefully, into a maelstrom of sheer unadulterated horror.
La Bola Negra
A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem
Once Upon a Time in Harlem splices together footage shot by William Greaves in 1972 of a group of Harlem Renaissance luminaries in conversation at Duke Ellington’s townhouse. The film is a living archive of memory, disagreement, style, and Black genius.
An American Werewolf in London
Two American students get into a spot of bother with the wildlife in rural England. Then they introduce the virus to the big city... John Landis's goofy horror comedy is a very good night out. So long as it's not a full moon...