Film Screening | Eames: The Architect & The Painter

May 9, 2021
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The Australian Centre for the Moving Image presents Long Play

Eames: The Architect & The Painter 

Friday 1 June 2020 to Sunday 17 June 2020

Australian Premiere and Exclusive to ACMI

As part of its Long Play program, the Australian Centre of the Moving Image (ACMI) presents the Australian premiere of Eames: The Architect & The Painter which will screen from 1 to 17 June. James Franco narrates the story of 40 years of creativity from powerhouse couple Charles and Ray Eames.

Film makers Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey cleverly collate and curate an abundant Eames archive (Ray was known to keep every note, scribble and scrap of paper in case she needed it at a later date), to give us rare insight into the world of this dynamic duo. Including interviews with Charles Eames’ daughter and grandson Lucia Eames and Eames Demetrios; former Eames office designers: Jeannine Oppewall, Gordon Ashby, and Deborah Sussman; Richard Saul Wurman, the founder of TED; architect Kevin Roche, and screenwriter Paul Schrader; these eight interviews frame the story of two people that shaped a still breathing legacy.

901 Washington Boulevard, Venice, California was the creative hub affectionately known as ‘The Eamery’. Charles and his wife Ray fostered and encouraged an environment of innovation, originality and imagination, producing some of the most iconic features of the 21st century. With clients under their belts such as IBM, The New York and Moscow World Fairs and Polaroid, they were able to use the payments from these clients and patents for their creations, to fund an expansive catalogue of ideas and inventions. Ray, formerly a painter and sculptor trained by American expressionist Hans Hofmann, and Charles educated as an architect, together produced not only the infamous range of plywood chairs, but made games, films, toys and multi-media exhibits. The film delves into the breadth of the Eames catalogues and whimsically illuminates the genius and tenacity, the light and shade, of what it was to be an Eames.

Influencing design practice the world over, this dynamic duo successfully breached the divide between creative genius and the beauty of everyday aesthetic. They repurposed items by recontextualising them and transporting them into a new environment, providing a new story for items. Originally designed for commercial use now used in a domestic setting, the famous Eames domicile equipped with commercial windows beautifully articulates their talent. Eames: The Architect & The Painter is an engaging story of master Modernists whose designs reshaped post-war America and inspired the design world.

The Long Play season of Eames: The Architect & The Painter screens from 1 to 17 June 2020 at ACMI, Federation Square.

For further information, session times and tickets please visit: acmi.net.au

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