Category Archives: Film and Television

Films and television programs featuring Lautner buildings

About John Lautner, Film and Television, John Lautner Buildings, News

See Spirit in Architecture on the Big Screen

The Spirit in Architecture

Bette Cohen’s documentary on John Lautner, The Spirit in Architecture: John Lautner, will screen at the Southern California Institute of Architecture on July 31, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. This remarkable work features John Lautner walking around and through his buildings, talking about them, as well as comments by clients, notable architects and historians, some of whom are no longer alive. The video (VHS and PAL) is available from this website, but a fully remastered DVD is not yet available. Thus the opportunity to see it on the big screen is not one to be missed.

Following the screening Bette Jane C0hen and co-producer Evelyn Wendel will be joined by Alan Hess, Jon Yoder, Tom Marble, and John Ellis for a panel discussion. Don’t miss this all-star cast!

For up-to-date information, join the Facebook Page on the film.

About John Lautner, Film and Television, News

Updated again: Infinite Space Still on the Move

updated March 12, 2010: info on Portland screenings added
updated January 28, 2010: more info on Deventer screening, addition of another Netherlands screening
updated January 27, 2010: more info on Aspen screening

Infinite Space: The Architecture of John Lautner continues to make the rounds at theaters around the world. Upcoming dates:

Tuesday, February 16
Arthouse Cinema
Deventer,
The Netherlands
More information: http://www.filmhuisdekeizer.nl/programma/p_event.php?eventid=3379

Saturday, February 27, 3:30 pm
The Center for Architecture
536 La Guardia Place
NYC, NY
Free, but need to register:
http://cfa.aiany.org/index.php?section=calendar&evtid=1422

Sunday, February 28, 2010, 6 p.m. CET
60-minute version screens on Dutch television
Station Nederland 2, program Close Up
After the show it will be viewable online for some weeks through www.uitzendinggemist.nl (don’t know if viewable from beyond The Netherlands)

Monday, March 1st
Wheeler Opera House
Aspen, CO
5:30 pm, FREE
contractors who built Turner house will be present.
For more info contact: Amy Guthrie
City of Aspen Historic Preservation Officer
130 S. Galena Street
Aspen, CO 81611
Amy.Guthrie@ci.aspen.co.us
(p)970-429-2758 (f) 970-920-5439

Thursday, March 18th
Triangle Modernist Houses (fundraiser)
Galaxy Cinema
Carey, North Carolina
$7.95 advance tickets, $9 at the door
http://www.trianglemodernisthouses.com

Sunday, March 28 and Wednesday, March 31
nwFilmCenter
Portland Art Museum
$8 General
$7 PAM Members, Students, Seniors
$5 Friends of the Film Center

Sunday, April 18
Palm Springs Museum
http://www.psmuseum.org
Producers Anna Thomas and Sara Sackner will be at this screening

More information will be posted here when available.

Bibliography, Film and Television, John Lautner Buildings, News

Infinite Space screens with two other Lautner-related films in Rotterdam

Three films that feature Lautner architecture will screen at the Architecture Film Festival in Rotterdam this year. The opening film of the festival will be Visual Acoustics, the remarkable film on architecture photographer Julius Shulman. It will screen Oct. 29 and Nov. 1.

A short film named 10104 Angelo View Drive, by Dorit Margreiter, will screen Oct. 30 and 31st. The film is on the Sheats-Goldstein residence and is silent.

Infinite Space, the Murray Grigor film on John Lautner, will screen Oct. 30 and 31.

You can read about all of the films in this festival on the English-language version of the program (assuming you do not read Dutch).

Film and Television, John Lautner Buildings, News

Joan Rivers visits Jim Goldstein

photo by Jeff Georgevich; all rights reserved.

Episode 5 of Joan Rivers’ new show, “How’d You Get So Rich?”, features Lautner’s Sheats-Goldstein residence with James Goldstein in attendance.

Watch the episode online. The Goldstein portion is the last part of the show, so it’s safe to fast-forward through the rest (unless, of course, you want to see the inventor of the slanket and Mother’s Breast Friend and others). You’ll see the living and pool areas, the entrance, the garage, the bedroom, and the closet. While the focus is mainly on Jim and his wardrobe it is unavoidably about the house, too.

Thanks to Stephen Lautner for finding this episode.

Film and Television, News

Sheats-Goldstein house to be featured in Southland

Thanks to the countless number of spies employed by the John Lautner Foundation, we have learned that the April 23 episode of the new crime drama Southland will feature the Sheats-Goldstein residence as a murder scene.

The episode will air at ten p.m. EST and PST, nine p.m. CST and MST, Thursday on NBC.

The spy in this case goes by the name John Crosse. Of course nobody knows if that’s his real name.

Film and Television, News

Infinite Space makes the rounds of festivals

[Updated Feb 19: date for San Luis Obispo screening added]

Infinite Space: The Architecture of John Lautner, by noted documentary filmmaker Murray Grigor, is making the rounds of film festivals around the country and beyond. Specific dates have not been set for screenings yet, but the festivals that have so far chosen the new film are:

Palm Springs International Film Festival
the film screened Jan. 12 and 14, 2009

Glasgow Film Festival, Scotland
Feb. 12 – 22, 2009 – will screen on Feb. 21

San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, San Luis Obispo, CA
March 6 – 15, 2009 – will screen Mar. 8 at 3 p.m.

Festival International Montreal en Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
March 19 – 29

Tiburon Film Festival, CA
March 19 – 27

Sarasota Film Festival, FL
March 27 – April 5

Newport Beach Film Festival, CA
April 23 – 30

Film and Television, News

A look at Lautner buildings in film

The 2003 documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself, by Thom Andersen, is rarely seen in theaters, apparently because of the lack of rights to various film clips in the film. But you can see the segment where Lautner buildings in film are used and misused, mainly by the bad guys and famously by Mel Gibson (for the record: no way the Garcia residence could be pulled down by a pickup truck). The segment speaks in general about the use of modern architecture in Los Angeles in film.

Thanks to Tom Hall of the Sarasota Film Festival for this link: