Objectified is the second feature-length documentary about design by filmmaker Gary Hustwit (Helvetica). The film examines our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. It's a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It's about the designers who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It's about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. Through vérité footage and in-depth conversations, the film documents the creative processes of some of the world's most influential product designers, and looks at how the things they make impact our lives. What can we learn about who we are, and who we want to be, from the objects with which we surround ourselves?

A discussion with director Gary Hustwit and designer Steven Heller will follow the screening.

Steven Heller is the co-chair of the MFA Designer as Author program at the School of Visual Arts, and co-founder of the MFA in Design Criticism. He was Art Director at The New York Times for 33 years and now writes the "Visuals" column for the Book Review. He is the author of over 130 books on graphic design and popular and visual culture, including a series of books on art deco graphics, a biography of Paul Rand, a critical history of the Swastika, and Iron Fists: Branding the Totalitarian State. He is currently finishing a biography on the designer Alvin Lustig and a book of essays, POP: How Graphic Design Influences Popular Culture. His daily blog is The Daily Heller.

Gary Hustwit is an independent filmmaker based in New York and London. He has produced six 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 1980s, ran the independent book publishing house Incommunicado Press during the 1990s, was Vice President of the media website Salon.com in 2000, and started the indie DVD label Plexifilm in 2001. In 2007 Hustwit made his directorial debut with Helvetica, which had its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2007, and has since screened in over 200 cities worldwide. Hustwit was nominated for the 2008 Independent Spirit "Truer Than Fiction" Award for Helvetica.

This screening is made possible by permission from the film's director.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.