A comprehensive documentary into the 125 year life, work, and times of Austrian/American Architect Richard Neutra (1892-1970) – the legacy which continues to this day through the work of son Dion Neutra.
2020: Toronto AADFF Jan 22 Palm Springs Modernism Week Feb 16
Tallinn Estonia- Kumu Museum Feb 26 : Vienna Metro Kinokulturhaus April 1
2019: Sao Paulo Mostra FF Rotterdam Architecture FF
Milan Design FF Vancouver Intl FF Newport Beach FF
SYNOPSIS
We begin in 1892 Vienna when Richard Neutra was born- and take you ‘inside’ to his most important works- the Luckenwalde Forest Cemetery, his first built ‘house’ design in Berlin, working with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin, Rudolph Schindler’s Kings Road House, the family home VDL House in Los Angeles, and the Palm Springs Kaufmann House. Our illustrious cast of ‘storytellers’ include the family- sons Dion and Raymond Neutra, Barbara Lamprecht, Thomas Hines, Alan Hess, Volker M. Welter, Harriet Roth, and ‘Starchitects’ Norman Foster, and Moshe Safdie. Join us on this eye opening journey into the life, work and times of Richard Neutra.
BACKGROUND
Vienna was a place of remarkable cultural energy and achievement in all the arts when Richard Josef Neutra was born in 1892. It was a center of art, architecture, science, and technology. After earning his architecture degree from the Technische Universitat Wien and serving in the Imperial Army in WWI, Neutra made his way to Berlin where he worked under the tutelage of Erich Mendelsohn and was associated with the pivotal Bauhaus design school (returning as a guest teacher in 1930). In 1923 he left for America, and arrived in Chicago where he met Louis Sullivan, worked with Holabird and Roche on the Palmer House, and then to Taliesin to work with Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1925 he and his wife Dione arrived in Los Angeles at the King’s Road home of Viennese friend Rudolph Schindler. Neutra completed
the Lovell Health House in 1929, still recognized worldwide as a Masterwork of Modernist Design. 20 years later, in 1949, Time Magazine featured Neutra on its cover, ranking him 2nd only to Frank Lloyd Wright in American Architects. He built over 350 projects around the world- homes, schools, libraries, and is known for his simple conceptual and practical, steel and glass designs, with a vision towards environment, ecology, and livability. Although he spent his later years in Europe and passed away in Wuppertal Germany in 1970, he built for the majority of his career in Southern California. In 1965 he formed Richard and Dion Neutra Architecture, with son Dion, which continues today at the Neutra Institute in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood.
CREDITS
Written, Directed, and Produced by
PJ Letofsky
Executive Producer
Christopher Ball
European Producer
Peter Rabitz
Camera
Andrew Parke
Music
Kubilay Uner
Starring
Dion Neutra
Raymond Neutra
Barbara Lamprecht
Thomas Hines
With
Norman Foster
Moshe Safdie
Featuring
Alan Hess
Harriet Roth
Volker M. Welter
Elana Shapira
Catherine Meyler
Michael Stern
Manfred Hering
Ueli Schnorf
And
Mitch O’Farrell
Hilmer Goedeking
Thomas Mueller
Paul and Gigi Shepherd
Todd Cronan
Editor
PJ Letofsky
Sound Design/ Mix
Joe Milner
Colorist
Sam Dlugach
Graphic Design
Astrid Chevallier/ Purple Red
VFX Supervisor
Anthony Magliocco
Legal Counsel
Clifford Lo, ESQ
Additional Music
Thomas Eggensberger
Aerial Drone Cinematography
Los Angeles/ Luckenwalde
Andrew Parke
Locarno
Kevin Quast
Vienna
Jurgen Moors
Berlin
Dagmar and Mischa Heintze