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5 documentaries every creative should watch

Sometimes creativity burst from where you least expect it. That’s why it’s always a completely recommendable advice potentiating it while getting immerse in the culture that surrounds us: music, art, movies… Today we bring you 5 audiovisual pieces that, through different documental narrations take us closer to great figures of the world of creativity.

  1. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

The works of this polemic character called Ai Weiwei result to be as much as striking as metaphorical. Especially taking into account the underling critique to the Chinese regime. Born in Beijing in 1957, his claim to fame took place in 2008, when he participated in the design of the stadium for the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Shortly after he distanced himself from the project to focus all his efforts in making the terrible Sichuan earthquake visible. Chinese authorities weren’t very happy about this and from this moment they started with governmental representations until in 2011 he was abruptly detained at the Beijing International Airport before going to Hong Kong. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry is a documentary film written and directed by Alyson Klayman that tells us a story of this particular artist and his activism. Among many other awards, this audiovisual piece has won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

  1. Exit through the gift shop

Who doesn’t know Banksy? The popular British artist specialized in Street Art is known by the satire he uses to deal with topics such as politics, culture and society. His main technique is the stencil (templates) that sometimes is combined with lettering. His identity, of course continues to be hidden, although this hasn’t represented an obstacle to reach a great international success (as his exhibitions in different European countries demonstrate). Maybe this is why it is so curious that in 2010 Banksy decided to make a movie and participate in it.

Exit through the gift shop is the curious title this artist chose to name the documentary. The protagonist of this small production was Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant based in Los Angeles with an extraordinary interest for pictorial street art. As consequence of this inquietude, we will try to contact the artists he admires the most; among them there is Banksy who, of course, will not show his face. The critic divided between those who flattered the work (even with an Oscar nomination) and those who questioned the reliability of the documentary. Its genuine way of dealing with the subject make this piece a window to street art.

  1. Abstract: The art of design

Netflix is the company behind this documentary based in the life and work ambit of different design professionals in several fields. Through eight chapters we will get to know closely and in depth the following characters: the graphic designer and Pentagram associate Paula Scher; the illustrator Christoph Niemann; the shoe designer Nike Tinker Hatfield; the set designer Es Devlin; the photographer Plato; the interior designer Ilse Crawford; the automobile designer Ralph Gilles and the architect Bjarke Ingels.

With Abstract: The art of design, Netflix is committed to the world of design with a series of biographical documentaries that allows us get closer to some of the most brilliant minds of recent times.

  1. Off the Record

Laura Sans is a young designer who in the last couple of years has focused her career into the audiovisual sector. Off the Record is the result of this initiative. Through it we can see that human side of design that we don’t usually associate to prestigious professional names such as: Erik Spiekermann, Jessica Walsh, Bruno Selles, Toormix, Hector Ayuso, Aimee Duchamp, N9ve studio, Brosmind or Marta Cerda.

“In this creative sector ego, pressure, mistreatment among professionals and/or clients is very common”, she tells us. The documentary is made as a dialog about design and visual arts that treats six themes with 21 designers. Simply a must-see.

  1. Tales by light

Is there a perfect image? Under this pretext a group of photographers begin a journey that will take them to different parts of the world to try capturing the ‘ideal’ picture. Extraordinary landscapes and cultures get mixed in this expedition in the search of light and other photographic parameters that will instruct and entertain you.

With two seasons of six chapters each, Tales by light is directed by Abraham Joffe in collaboration with Canon Australia, and it aims to make all audiences to get closer to the universe of photography.

 

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