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Design Trilogy Films Screened

A scene from the film “Helvetica.”

American director Gary Hustwit will be in Moscow next week for the showing of his trilogy of films about design at the Polytechnical Museum.

Hustwit's first film, "Helvetica," tells the story of the ubiquitous font and the often intense passions it inspires in people.

The film was highly praised when it was released in 2007 with Time Out calling it "one of the wittiest, most diligently researched, slyly intelligent and quietly captivating documentaries of the year."

He followed "Helvetica" with "Objectified," which looks at the world of industrial design and product design, and "Urbanized," which examines how cities are put together and the problems that city planners face, an issue likely to strike a nerve in Moscow, which has seen a wave of moves by City Hall and locals attempting to make the city more liveable.

He will also give a lecture on Monday about crowdfunding — he raised funds for his film via a crowdfunding site.

"I wasn't a designer, or even a filmmaker, just a design geek who really wanted to see a movie about fonts!" Hustwit wrote on the site of Kickstarter, where he raised more than $100,000 to make "Urbanized."

His visit is organized by the Beat Film Festival, an annual event that specializes in showing documentaries.

Hustwit will speak on Monday at 7 p.m. Entry is free. "Helvetica" will show on Monday at 9 p.m. after his lecture, with "Objectified" on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and "Urbanized" on at 9 p.m. that day. Tickets cost 200 rubles.

Polytechnical Museum. ¾ Novaya Ploshchad, podyezd 9. Metro Kitai-Gorod. Tel. (495) 621-1041. www.pmlectures.ru

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