Screening
|
In-Person

ADFF Opening Night Screening: Identity: A Czech Graphic Design Love Story

Date
Tue
,
Oct 14
Time
6:30 pm
-
8:45 pm
Location
Village East by Angelika, 181-189 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003
By
Architecture & Design Film Festival
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Identity: A Czech Graphic Design Love Story, 2024; Directed by Kateřina Mikulcova and Petr Smelik

Identity: A Czech Graphic Design Love Story

2024 / 85 min / Czech Republic

Directors: Kateřina Mikulcova and Petr Smelik

US Premiere

 

What does a country’s design aesthetic reveal about its identity? That’s the animating question behind Identity: A Czech Graphic Design Love Story, a documentary that pairs cultural inquiry with personal narrative. At its center is Nicholas Lowry, a Czech-American auctioneer and obsessive collector who returns to his ancestral homeland to investigate a design tradition, a national identity, and himself.

 

Dressed in his tartan suit and armed with a healthy dose of humor, Lowry travels across the Czech Republic—from Zlín to Brno, Litomyšl to Pilsen—encountering the visual language of design legends like Alfons Mucha, Ladislav Sutnar, and Josef Váchal. The film weaves through local traditions, historic design landmarks, and conversations with contemporary artists, resulting in a vibrant tribute to the power of visual language.