Schindler Space Architect is an independently produced documentary examining the works and life of a pioneer of modern architecture, R.M. Schindler, narrated by Meryl Streep and Udo Kier, and featuring testimonials by renowned architects Frank Gehry, Steven Holl, Thom Mayne, and Ray Kappe, among many others.
Having already enjoyed an August run as part of our Culture Vulture series, Schindler Space Architect is now returning to the big screen as regular engagement beginning Friday, November 7th at the Laemmle Monica Film Center in order to qualify for the Oscars’ Best Documentary race. So come check out this fascinating tale of one of architecture’s most impactful (if forgotten) revolutionaries before it’s too late. Click here for tickets.
Message from the producer/director:
“Werner Herzog once said “Every man should pull a boat over a mountain once in his life.” This has been my boat and it has taken twelve years to complete the mission.
- M. Schindler’s life story is very close to my heart. He is the quintessential underdog: bohemian, rebel, working outside the mainstream, on a path of his own, unsung and quite often misunderstood. And yet, Schindler is the early modernist architect who fundamentally changed how people live, breaking the barriers between “inside” and “outside”, his architecture grew from the land and it was always in dialogue with Nature. Schindler experimented and invented over a period of thirty years, suffering the ups and downs of his creative genius, forging his own vision he left a well of inspiration. I was determined to put the spotlight on, to make a wrong right. As a first-time female filmmaker working outside the mainstream industry I had to overcome many challenges along the way. Wearing all kinds of hats: producer, researcher, writer, director, editor, to name a few, but I kept going, tirelessly fundraising, forging my own vision and attracting along the way collaborators that were inspired by Schindler and contributed their best. So, we end up with a film made with a lot of love and respect for a man who was a true original.
– Valentina Ganeva
“Viennese-born Rudolf Schindler transformed Los Angeles architecture with buildings shaped by space, light and interconnection with nature. In Schindler Space Architect, director Valentina Galena draws on rich archival material, cinematography and interviews to vividly tell the story of Schindler’s ideas, life, loves, and his complicated relationship with L.A.’s other founding Austrian modernist, Richard Neutra. Fascinating.” – Frances Anderton
“Turns basic assumptions about the birth of modern architecture upside down.” – Alan Hess, architect and historian