Antonio Gaudi - The Criterion Collection

Catalan architect ANTONI GAUDÍ (1852-1926) designed some of the world's most astonishing buildings, interiors, and parks; Japanese director HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA (Woman in the Dunes) constructed some of the most aesthetically audacious films ever made. In Antonio Gaudí, their artistry melds in a unique, enthralling cinematic experience. Less a documentary than a visual poem, Teshigahara's film takes viewers on a tour of Gaudí's truly spectacular architecture, including his massive, still-unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Família basilica in Barcelona. With camera work as bold and sensual as the curves of his subject's organic structures, Teshigahara immortalizes Gaudí on film.Special Edition FeaturesHigh-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrackInterview with architect Arata Isozaki from 2008Gaudí, Catalunya, 1959, footage from director Hiroshi Teshigahara's first trip to SpainVisions of Space: Antoni Gaudí, an hour-long documentary from 2003 on the architect's life and workBBC program on Gaudí by filmmaker Ken RussellSculptures by Sofu-Vita, a 1963 short film by Teshigahara on the sculpture work of his father, Sofu TeshigaharaTrailerPLUS: An essay by art historian Dore Ashton, a 1986 reminiscence by Hiroshi Teshigahara, and excerpts from a 1959 conversation between Hiroshi and Sofu Teshigahara on their trip to the West