The film 🎥 The Last Days of Metal Type 🎥 from 1957 offers perhaps the most comprehensive historical footage on the process of metal typefounding. In 2015, Massey & Sheridan Colleges in 🇨🇦 restored the 🎞 and added narration by the legendary Matthew Carter, one of the only living 🔠 designers to work in metal, film, and digital type. It’s fascinating to observe how painstakingly elaborate and time-consuming it was to produce one single letter in one single size, and how much craftsmanship was required in this process. Times have changed quite a bit since then, and maybe in type design more so than in many other fields.
👀 Watch The Last Days of Metal Type here

Markus Rätz was an outstanding Swiss artist, one who constantly made our heads turn. Poetically, he delivered proof that it is always worth to look back, or to take a second, third and even fourth look as things might have changed since you last checked. Illusions, mirrors, puzzles, parts that form a whole, trap doors and wrong exits all made part of his unique practice. To commemorate his passing last week, the Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris has shared Rätz’ short animated film Eben from 1971. It’s a masterpiece in miniature (you surely have never seen a drawing of the Swiss border turning into a funny, long-nosed fish!).
👀 Watch Eben here

Filmmaker 🎞️ Gary Hustwit is streaming his documentaries 🎬 free worldwide during the global COVID-19 crisis. Each Tuesday there is another Movie to watch.
👀 Watch here.

Why not skip ◎ Tatort ◉ tonight and watch “Umbruch” by Hans-Ulrich Schlumpf instead? The year is 1985, and Akeret AG in Bassersdorf, a printer and publisher of a small local 📰, exchanges its Lintotype department with cutting-edge photo-typesetting machinery, much to the chagrin of its employees. Shortly after, Ruppert Murdoch fires more than 5000 printers and typesetters in London 🇬🇧 because they were on strike ✊ against the introduction of the new typesetting and printing technology. “Umbruch” is a unique document, and with 🎥 by Pio Corradi and 🎵 by Bruno Spoerri, what’s more to ask?
👀 Watch here

“Using Helvetica is like cooking 🍝 spaghetti — a few achieve a world class dish, but most produce junk.” (C.W.)
Documentary film 🎬 maker Gary Hustwit has generously created free access to his work for the time being, muchas gracias 👍. So if you have missed the Helvetica movie, it’s now the perfect 🕰 to catch up. Under the second link below you'll find a free Hustwit film each week, until the end of March this will be Objectified, and after that probably Rams. Enjoy!
👀 Watch Helvetica
👀 Watch Objectified

Artfilm.ch opens its archive 🎞 ! Until April 30th all films are freely accessible 📹. Take this chance and beam some culture into your living room 📽🛋 .
👀 Watch here