NEW FILM DEEPENS THE ACT OF SEEING—WITH A FOCUS ON RUDOLPH’S BOSTON GOVERNMENT SERVICE CENTER
Paul Rudolph’s Boston Government Service Center is the star of “The Closer You Look”—a new film from director Ned Daly.
The film is a meditation on the question, “What happens when you really stop to look”—and the director uses Rudolph’s building “as a point of departure for an exploration of what it might mean to look closer at the world around us.” Sensitive photography of the building, in combination with music composed especially for the film, engages us in a deeper look at what the environment can offer—and particularly the visual richness that Rudolph created in Boston.
THE CREATORS
Director Ned Daly was educated as a city planner at Harvard and spent decades documenting existing conditions in large masonry and concrete structures throughout the US—including buildings by Sert, Gropius, and Le Corbusier. His earlier films include Pastiche Vol1 No1; Why We Went to the Moon; and Abang Aku, and his works have played in film festivals internationally. You can learn more of Ned Daly’s work at his IMDB profile.
Composer Emma Campbell, born in the UK and relocated to the US, had a passion for piano from an early age and came to love Beethoven. After working in education for 20 years, she is now the Music and Choir Director for a church in Massachusetts. Ms. Campbell and Ned Daly have previously collaborated on the 2018 film, Abang Aku.
Work by sound designer Tim Carey, colorist Nan Daly, and camera car driver Betsy Daly contribute to making this a film an involving work at both the aural and visual levels.
SEEING THE FILM
The film will be shown, in March 2020, as an official part of the London Experimental Film Festival
We’ll keep you informed about other showings—but meanwhile you can experience a sample of the film here.
A still from the Ned Daly’s film, “The Closer You Look”. Shown here are some of the flowing exterior stairs—part of Paul Rudolph’s overall design for the complex—which enliven visitors’ experience of the site.
IMPORTANT TIMING FOR FILM’S RELEASE
The release of “The Closer You Look" is well-timed, as the building complex is now threatened. The state wants to sell-off portion of it to a developer—with the the amount of demolition to-be-decided (if they’re allowed to proceed.)
You can read about the most recent development in this preservation campaign here—and here is an article which attempts to “myth-bust” about some mis-information that’s been circulating about the building and its relationship to Rudolph.
We’ll continue informing our readers of the ongoing fight to save the building—and meanwhile you can help by signing the petition here.
“The movement of space has velocity, for space flows in the manner of water from one volume to another. Especially important are the ‘connections’ between one spatial volume to another.”
— Paul Rudolph, Enigmas of Architecture