Editor’s note: Following the publishing of our review, we received word from Brenden Dawes, who developed the generative system used by the filmmakers of Eno, that while the film teases the possibilities of AI and generative technology in an art practice, the film itself consists entirely of filmed new and archival materials with no AI-generated content.
A film of infinite possibilities thanks in part to a generative AI hook, Gary Hustwit’s Eno is partially a straightforward biopic featuring interviews and archival footage with composer Brian Eno, the experiential musician and artist whose credits include playing the synthesizer in Roxy Music to creating the start-up sound for Windows PCs. The film is assembled at random, with a set beginning and ending, inspired seemingly by a deck of “Oblique Strategies” cards that Eno and David Bowie used to create tension and contractions within their collaborations.
Of course, Eno is not...
A film of infinite possibilities thanks in part to a generative AI hook, Gary Hustwit’s Eno is partially a straightforward biopic featuring interviews and archival footage with composer Brian Eno, the experiential musician and artist whose credits include playing the synthesizer in Roxy Music to creating the start-up sound for Windows PCs. The film is assembled at random, with a set beginning and ending, inspired seemingly by a deck of “Oblique Strategies” cards that Eno and David Bowie used to create tension and contractions within their collaborations.
Of course, Eno is not...
- 1/25/2024
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
You can never step in the same river twice. And, unless you are blessed with an infinite amount of patience, time, and mortality, you can never see the same version of the Sundance documentary Eno twice.
This is by design. Brian Eno — former Roxy Music member, legendary recording producer, Berlin-era Bowie bestie, ambient music pioneer, and a man who rocked a Seventies kimono like no other — is not someone who likes dwelling on the past or being pinned down. The idea of a movie chronicling his 50-year career behind the keyboards and mixing boards,...
This is by design. Brian Eno — former Roxy Music member, legendary recording producer, Berlin-era Bowie bestie, ambient music pioneer, and a man who rocked a Seventies kimono like no other — is not someone who likes dwelling on the past or being pinned down. The idea of a movie chronicling his 50-year career behind the keyboards and mixing boards,...
- 1/19/2024
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
The life and accomplishments of Brian Eno are prodigious enough to fill several films, but until hearing the pitch for “Eno,” the composer, producer, self-professed “non-musician” and visual artist associated with groups including Roxy Music and U2 was resistant to be the focus of even one. “I usually can’t stand docu-bios of artists because they are so hagiographic,” Eno says.
Rather than charting a chronological path through Eno’s career, documentarian Gary Hustwit proposed using generative artificial intelligence to create a film that would literally be different for every audience that screened it. “The use of randomness to pattern the layout of the film seemed likely to override any hagiographic impulses,” Eno says.
Hustwit and Eno had collaborated before; Eno scored the filmmaker’s 2018 documentary “Rams,” about German industrial designer Dieter Rams. By the time he turned his attention to “Eno,” however, Hustwit had grown restless with the traditional...
Rather than charting a chronological path through Eno’s career, documentarian Gary Hustwit proposed using generative artificial intelligence to create a film that would literally be different for every audience that screened it. “The use of randomness to pattern the layout of the film seemed likely to override any hagiographic impulses,” Eno says.
Hustwit and Eno had collaborated before; Eno scored the filmmaker’s 2018 documentary “Rams,” about German industrial designer Dieter Rams. By the time he turned his attention to “Eno,” however, Hustwit had grown restless with the traditional...
- 1/16/2024
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Variety Film + TV
Here come the warm jets. British musician, producer, and visual artist Brian Eno will be at the center of the upcoming documentary “Eno,” directed by Gary Hustwit (“Helvetica”).
The feature film will be released in multiple versions and is set to use groundbreaking generative technology in its creation and exhibition. “Eno” incorporates hundreds of hours of never-before-seen footage for the career-spanning take on Eno’s life, including unreleased music from Eno’s personal archive and visual art.
“Eno” is the first authorized documentary on the artist. Insiders noted that the film may “take on a myriad” of different forms depending on viewing platform, similar to how Eno uses technology to compose music.
“He is the perfect subject to use this sort of approach,” director Hustwit said in a press statement. “He’s turned down many previous projects because he didn’t want to do a conventional bio-doc.”
Hustwit continued, “I...
The feature film will be released in multiple versions and is set to use groundbreaking generative technology in its creation and exhibition. “Eno” incorporates hundreds of hours of never-before-seen footage for the career-spanning take on Eno’s life, including unreleased music from Eno’s personal archive and visual art.
“Eno” is the first authorized documentary on the artist. Insiders noted that the film may “take on a myriad” of different forms depending on viewing platform, similar to how Eno uses technology to compose music.
“He is the perfect subject to use this sort of approach,” director Hustwit said in a press statement. “He’s turned down many previous projects because he didn’t want to do a conventional bio-doc.”
Hustwit continued, “I...
- 4/27/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Gary Hustwit has started production on “Eno,” a career-spanning documentary about musician and artist Brian Eno.
The non-fiction film boasts access to hundreds of hours of never-before-seen footage, unreleased music from Eno’s archive, and visual art. It’s the first authorized documentary about the music legend.
The producers say that “Eno” will be released in multiple versions and will employ “groundbreaking generative technology” in its creation and exhibition. Though the specifics haven’t been revealed, insiders say that the finished film can take on myriad different forms depending on the platform or manner in which it is being viewed. It is similar to the way that Eno uses technology to compose music.
“He is the perfect subject to use this sort of approach,” says Hustwit. “He’s turned down many previous projects because he didn’t want to do a conventional bio-doc.”
Hustwit knows of what he speaks. The...
The non-fiction film boasts access to hundreds of hours of never-before-seen footage, unreleased music from Eno’s archive, and visual art. It’s the first authorized documentary about the music legend.
The producers say that “Eno” will be released in multiple versions and will employ “groundbreaking generative technology” in its creation and exhibition. Though the specifics haven’t been revealed, insiders say that the finished film can take on myriad different forms depending on the platform or manner in which it is being viewed. It is similar to the way that Eno uses technology to compose music.
“He is the perfect subject to use this sort of approach,” says Hustwit. “He’s turned down many previous projects because he didn’t want to do a conventional bio-doc.”
Hustwit knows of what he speaks. The...
- 4/27/2022
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Most filmmakers dream of scoring a big studio deal, but not Gary Hustwit. The “Helvetica” director applies a “do it yourself” model to the release of his movies. “Rams,” his recent documentary about German industrial designer Dieter Rams, is Hustwit’s latest venture into self-distribution.
“I don’t want to be paying someone else’s overhead,” said Hustwit. “I can reach our core audience better than anyone else can, and I don’t have to share the profits. A lot of filmmakers have this illusion that if you sign with a distributor they’ll do all the work, and that’s just not the case.”
Instead, Hustwit serves as his own marketer and booker. He rents the theaters that play his films, and the filmmaker often shows up in person to do a Q&A following a showing.
In the case of “Rams,” Hustwit hosted some 40 events. Most of the engagements were sellouts.
“I don’t want to be paying someone else’s overhead,” said Hustwit. “I can reach our core audience better than anyone else can, and I don’t have to share the profits. A lot of filmmakers have this illusion that if you sign with a distributor they’ll do all the work, and that’s just not the case.”
Instead, Hustwit serves as his own marketer and booker. He rents the theaters that play his films, and the filmmaker often shows up in person to do a Q&A following a showing.
In the case of “Rams,” Hustwit hosted some 40 events. Most of the engagements were sellouts.
- 12/19/2018
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Objectified Directed by: Gary Hustwit Have you ever wondered why the handle of your potato peeler is shaped the way it is? Well after watching Gary Hustwit's documentary Objectified you won't be able to stop thinking about it. You'll also start looking at all the everyday things that surround us in our lives, questioning whether or not they are useful, and asking how we got so attached to them in the first place. This follow-up to the well-received documentary Helvetica is actually the second in what Hustwit now says will be a trilogy of design-related films. Considering the multitude of issues and questions that he managed to squeeze into this one, however, I am not quite sure that he has anything left to explore. When I saw Helvetica a couple years ago, I was blown away. I thought that the idea of making a documentary about a font might have been kind of gimmicky,...
- 5/14/2009
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
"Your movie made me physically sick," one audience member told Gary Hustwit (left), the director of Objectified, the eagerly anticipated film about industrial design, last night at a screening in New York.
Far from being miffed, Hustwit grinned. "Maybe that's what we were trying to do," he said slyly.
The film, which chronicles the back story of the people and processes that create the vast array of designed objects that surround us every day, was screened before an audience largely made up of the very folks who toil in front of Cad programs and rapid prototyping machines to churn out those products.
But there's an essential tension at the heart of this story. On the one hand, Hustwit, who created the hugely popular film, Helvetica, celebrates the masters who have created some of the most successful products of our time--Jonathan Ive of Apple; Bill Moggridge, the "father of interactive...
Far from being miffed, Hustwit grinned. "Maybe that's what we were trying to do," he said slyly.
The film, which chronicles the back story of the people and processes that create the vast array of designed objects that surround us every day, was screened before an audience largely made up of the very folks who toil in front of Cad programs and rapid prototyping machines to churn out those products.
But there's an essential tension at the heart of this story. On the one hand, Hustwit, who created the hugely popular film, Helvetica, celebrates the masters who have created some of the most successful products of our time--Jonathan Ive of Apple; Bill Moggridge, the "father of interactive...
- 4/10/2009
- by Linda Tischler
- Fast Company
The 2009 Hot Docs lineup has officially been announced and I'm extremely excited. For one, this will be a good opportunity to catch up on many of the films I missed at Sundance. Also, I'm currently not working, so I will have all of free time to dedicate to the festival. Nice. Luckily, there's a shit ton of movies that I'm interested in, so it won't be hard to fill out my schedule (It never really is). I've posted some crucial picks below, but you can also check out the full schedule for yourself over at the Hot Docs website [1]. What are you looking forward to this year? Objectified [2] Directed by Gary Hustwit [3] From telephones to toothpicks, nearly everything that fills our world is designed. Objects look and work the way they do because someone made them that way. Director Gary Hustwit examines industrial design's sweeping cultural impact with the same...
- 3/25/2009
- by Jay C.
- FilmJunk
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