Julius Shulman on the Silver Screen

Eric Bricker’s documentary, Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman, is currently screening at locations across the United States and Canada until June 22. The feature-length film promises to be an illustrative peek at one of the most respected and prominent architectural photographers of all time. “Every part of a person’s life is based upon an architect’s presence,” Shulman says in the documentary’s trailer. The 98-year-old legend was directly involved with the making of the film, giving viewers access to his private photo archive.

Shulman’s photos of Modernist structures helped launch the careers of Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler, Pierre Koenig, and John Lautner, among others. A host of noted filmmakers, designers, and architects also appear in the film; the narration is by Dustin Hoffman, and there are interviews with Frank Gehry, Tom Ford, Ed Ruscha, Mitch Glazer, Benedikt Taschen, and the actress Kelly Lynch. The documentary has already won an Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

See also: “The Photographic Memory of Julius Shulman,” in the September 2007 issue of Metropolis