Before MY ARCHITECT was a twinkle in the theater goer’s eye, Lucia Small’s film, MY FATHER, THE GENIUS was tearing up the indie film festival circuit raking in prizes and praise for its exploration of the lesser-known green architect and familial firebrand, Glen Howard Small. His daughter, the filmmaker, Lucia Small, deftly explores the film’s subject with an ironic wit and probing inquisitiveness.
Now, small angst films announces the June 29, 2005 DVD release of the award-winning documentary film, MY FATHER, THE GENIUS (84 minutes). Packed with Special Features, the DVD includes Architect Small’s original 1970’s Super-8 mini-movie on the Biomorphic Biosphere, interviews with architects on the controversial Mr. Small, including the 2005 Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne, a slideshow of Small’s architectural work with commentary, a Sundance Channel Aftereffect segment and a teaser for the long-awaited Genius II.
Director Lucia Small’s debut feature, MY FATHER, THE GENIUS premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival 2002 and took home two Grand Jury Prizes: “Best Documentary” and “Best Editing.” The film collected six top jury awards, including ones from the Newport International Film Festival and Atlanta Film Festival. MY FATHER, THE GENIUS made IndieWIRE’s list of Best Undistributed Films of 2002 and in 2003 was broadcast on the Sundance Channel’s DOCDay series. Most importantly, MY FATHER, THE GENIUS was nominated for a Best Documentary Chlotrudis Award at the 9th Annual Chlotrudis Awards.
MY FATHER, THE GENIUS tells the story of estranged father and visionary architect Glen Howard Small, who bequeaths to his daughter the task of writing his biography — while he is still alive. She answers instead with a film documenting the precarious path of his career and family life alongside his lifelong quest to “save the world through architecture.” At 31, Glen Small was a rising star. At 61, he seemed to barely escape financial ruin. The film looks at the difficult questions with an unflinching eye: What happens toward the end of a dreamer’s life when his dreams are still unfulfilled? How does a daughter navigate the delicate emotional tension of examining her father’s legacy while he’s still alive? Where and when will his statement of architectural genius finally be made – now or never? Ty Burr of the Boston Globe includes it as part of “the mini-genre of oedipal documentaries that probe and accuse and puzzle over the private legacies of public men.”
A recent review in the architectural arts webzine GutterCurbed.com reads, “Like a lot of you, we thought that Nathaniel Kahn’s MY ARCHITECT was the last word in children-in-search-of-their-lost-architect-fathers cinema. Not so! MY FATHER, THE GENIUS came out a year before the Kahn film (2002) and is now getting a second wind after a screening in New York’ Never has the architect’s ego been better captured in any medium.”
New footage from Genius II catches up with the indefatigable Small and features three recently completed national projects in the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, where the architect has been living for the past three years. The Concha Acustica, the Rotunda Periodista, and the Fuente Colon Rotunda, were designed Glen Small’s signature concepts of universal beauty and sensuality in mind. For photos and stills of these projects, please visit Small Angst’s pressroom at www.myfatherthegenius.com/presskit.
The DVD is being self distributed by small angst films and is available for purchase at www.myfatherthegenius.com at individual, institutional and community group prices.
Read the review...