Society of Graphic Designers of Canada – British Columbia Chapter | Société des designers graphiques du Canada – Chapitre de la Colombie-Britannique

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About the Film

Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which celebrates its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.

• More information: www.helveticafilm.com
• Filmmaker Blog: www.helveticafilm.com/blog
• Videoclips: www.helveticafilm.com/clips.html

Gary Hustwit – Director/Producer

Gary Hustwit is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and founder of the New York-based indie film company Plexifilm. Gary has produced five feature documentaries, including I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, the award-winning film about the band Wilco; Moog, the documentary about electronic music pioneer Robert Moog; and Drive Well, Sleep Carefully, a tour film about the band Death Cab for Cutie. Hustwit worked with punk label SST Records in the late-1980's, ran the independent book publishing house Incommunicado Press during the 1990's, was Vice President of the media website Salon.com in 2000, and started the indie DVD label Plexifilm in 2001. Helvetica is Hustwit's directorial debut and has been received with critical acclaim at sold out screenings around the world.

Director’s statement: www.helveticafilm.com/director.html

Special Guests (7:00 SCREENING ONLY)

Douglas Coupland - artist/author/designer

Douglas Coupland is a world-renowned writer, artist, sculptor, designer and screenwriter. A native Vancouverite, Coupland originally pursued a career as a designer and artist, graduating from Emily Carr in 1984, but eventually turned his attention to writing. He has since published more than fifteen books of fiction and nonfiction, including Eleanor Rigby, Hey Nostradamus!, Souvenir of Canada, Terry, Generation X and more. His art has appeared in Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, Milan and London, England, and he has won two Canadian National Awards for Excellence in Industrial Design. His new movie Everything’s Gone Green was just screened at Cannes for US. He is also designing a new park for downtown Toronto. Nearly every Coupland book uses Helvetica in the headline title and Coupland is a avid fan of the typeface.

For more information, visit www.coupland.com

Jim Rimmer - designer/typographer/lithographer/2007 GDC fellowship honoree

Jim Rimmer is a celebrated designer, illustrator, lettering artist, typographer, lithographer and founder of Pie Tree Press in New Westminster, BC, Canada. With over 50 years of creating and working with typefaces, Mr. Rimmer is considered a Canadian icon and hero to many in the graphic design industry. Adept at traditional metal type casting as well as digital type design, Rimmer has created numerous typefaces, including Nephi Mediaeval, Juliana Oldstyle, Fellowship, Albertan, Hannibal Oldstyle, and Duensing Titling. Though now in his seventies, Rimmer is still working – currently working on a limited edition production of Tom Sawyer, featuring hand cut illustrations and a hot metal casting of his typeface Hannibal Oldstyle. In 2007 Rimmer was honoured with the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada Fellowship, the association's highest honour.

For more information, visit the Rimmer Type Foundry

Screening One

• 6:00 to 7:00 pm
• Check-in & Admission

• 7:00 to 9:00 pm
• Film Screening and Q&A with Director and Special Guests.

• 9:00 to 11:00 pm
• Gala After-Party Hosted by GDC and Metropolitan Fine Printers (beer/wine/snacks)

Screening Two

• 9:00 to 10:00 pm
• Check-in & Admission

• 10:00 to 11:15 pm
• Film Screening with introduction by Director.

• DON'T MISS YOUR CHANCE TO BUY TICKETS FOR THE SECOND SCREENING
• Tickets for the first screening sold out in only 2 days!

QUESTIONS? .

About the Typeface ~ Helvetica 50 years

Helvetica was developed by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann in 1957 for the Haas Type Foundry in Münchenstein, Switzerland. In the late 1950s, the European design world saw a revival of older sans-serif typefaces such as the German face Akzidenz Grotesk. Haas' director Hoffmann commissioned Miedinger, a former employee and freelance designer, to draw an updated sans-serif typeface to add to their line. The result was called Neue Haas Grotesk, but its name was later changed to Helvetica, derived from Helvetia, the Latin name for Switzerland, when Haas' German parent companies Stempel and Linotype began marketing the font internationally in 1961.

Introduced amidst a wave of popularity of Swiss design, and fueled by advertising agencies selling this new design style to their clients, Helvetica quickly appeared in corporate logos, signage for transportation systems, fine art prints, and myriad other uses worldwide. Inclusion of the font in home computer systems such as the Apple Macintosh in 1984 only further cemented its ubiquity.