Playtime – an outdoor cinema/temporary architecture project (#16)
(in association with the New Zealand/France Friendship Fund)
LOCATION: 266 St Asaph Street, city. Cnr Madras and St Asaph Streets
SCHEDULE:
Sat 17 March, 8pm – Grand opening / Playtime (1967, 126mins)
- introduced by Dr Jessica Halliday, architectural historian
Sun 18 March, 8pm – Jour de Fete (1948, 70mins)
- introduced by Dr Ryan Reynolds, Lecturer Theatre and Film Studies, University of Canterbury
Thurs 22 March, 8pm – Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953, 114mins)
- introduced by Julia Taylor, architectural graduate
Fri 23 March, 8pm – Mon Oncle (1958, 111mins)
- introduced by John Chrisstoffels , Lecturer in Film in the School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury
Sat 24 March, 8pm– Trafic (1971, 96mins)
- introduced by Nick Paris, Alice in Videoland, film enthusiast
Thurs 29 March – PANEL PRESENTATION / DISCUSSION
- 7:30pm – Dr Ryan Reynolds, Barnaby Bennett, Daniele Abreu e Lima. Chaired by Dr Jessica Halliday
+ 8:30pm, Playtime (1967, 126mins)
Fri 30 March, 8pm – Parade (1974, 84mins)
In case of rain, check GAP FILLER website and Facebook page for alternate venue or postponement details.
Project Background
Gap Filler held a design competition for this project. It is now closed. The winners are: Barnaby Bennett, Mark Leong and Nick Sargent with their group entry – The Night Club. Thank you to all who entered. Barnaby et al will be working to take their idea from just a design to reality on a gap in early March. Some of the entries are below for you to take a look.
The competition
Gap Filler held an open competition for a designed and built ‘gap’ inspired by Jacques Tati’s film Play Time (1967), for Gap Filler’s outdoor film screenings of Tati’s films in March 2012. The emphasis was on creating an urban installation. This site will be used for other related events such as talks, workshops and performances. The NZ/France Friendship fund has generously provided us with some funding for this project which includes a design fee and materials budget for the winner and his/her design.
Tati is perhaps most famous for his films about Monsieur Hulot – a maladroit yet upbeat French gentleman played by the director himself. His films are marked by a spirit of curiosity and comic cultural commentary. His later works are set in a futuristic France of modernist glass, steel and rather unusual inventions. Iconic Parisian landmarks are frequently reduced to two-dimensional reflections in glass. Tati’s grandiose scheme for the set of his last major film, Play Time, involved the three-year construction of a vast mini-city (‘Tativille’) incorporating modern centrally-heated four-storey buildings, expansive portable architecture and functioning transport infrastructure.
The vacant site for the project is on St Asaph Street, city. Films that will be screened during the project include: Jour de Fete (1947), Play Time (1967), Mon Oncle (1958), Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953), Trafic (1971) and Parade (1974).
See some of the entries for this project, by downloading them below. It was a hard task for the judging panel to select the winner.
Hulot’s Cubicle_1, Hulot’s Cubicle _2 (2 files for this one)
The Nightclub – This is the winning design
