The Dream of Perfection
Dir. John Weiley
THE DREAM OF PERFECTION is as extraordinary as its provocative subject matter, the dramatic story of the building of the Sydney Opera House, culminating in Utzons departure from the project. Director John Weiley was commissioned in 1968 to make the documentary Autopsy on a Dream by then BBC2 controller David Attenborough, and following its only screening on the BBC, it was destroyed literally chopped to pieces on the chopping block. Miraculously, a mute print of Autopsy on a Dream was rediscovered in a BBC vault this year, and has now been restored with sound saved by John Weiley, and with a new prologue. The film features interviews with David Attenborough, Jan Utzon, Lin Utzon, and Richard Neville.
Harry Seidler: Modernist
Dir. Daryl Dellora
The first documentary retrospective of Harry Seidler's architectural legacy, Harry Seidler: Modernist reveals an intimate portrait of his extraordinary life and internationally recognised work. Seidler is acclaimed as one of the greatest modernist architects.
He won every architectural major prize in Australia, is represented in every major city, and was embraced internationally by the likes of Norman Foster (the London Gherkin) and Renzo Piano & Richard Rogers (Pompidou Centre, Paris). During a career that spanned almost sixty years he worked in New York, Paris, China, and Mexico, reshaped Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Vienna and prompted architects and artists from all over the world to look to his work as an inspiration.
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Seidler typified the practice of mid-century modernism in Australia more than any other. From the moment he arrived in Sydney his private homes were in demand and his uniquely stylised and innovatively engineered tower blocks came to dominate the skyline. International buildings include the Australian Embassy in Paris and the Wohnpark Neue Donau in Vienna.
2016 marks 10 years since the death of Harry Seidler and this timely documentary will deliver an exhilarating retrospective of Seidler's architectural vision.