Strange & Familiar: Architecture on Fogo Island 2014
Distributed by First Run Features, 630 Ninth Avenue, Suite 1213, New York, NY 10036; 212-243-0600
Produced by Katherine Knight and David Craig
Directed by Marcia Connolly and Katherine Knight
DVD, color, 54 min.
High School - General Adult
Architecture, Culture, Design, Documentaries, Globalization, Housing, Public Art, Travel and Tourism
Date Entered: 07/05/2016
Reviewed by Jen Wong, The University of Texas at Austin Materials LabStrange and Familiar documents the recent transformation of “an island off an island” at the north-eastern edge of North America, in Newfoundland. Fogo Island - home to a 400-year old fishing community in decline, with a population of less than 2,500 - is a place that would remain unknown, but for the vision and financial zeal of one woman with a deep, vested interest in its land and people. The film covers the final construction phase of an ambitious multi-phase project commissioned by native daughter Zita Cobb and designed by the architect Todd Saunders, a fellow Newfoundlander by upbringing. The project includes four independent artist residences and a 29-room luxury inn, designed to attract international attention while remaining true to Fogo Island’s history and inhabitants. Cobb and Saunders’ shared goal is to “take the lived experience, take the land, take who we are, and do our very best to express it in a contemporary way.”
Cobb, who grew up on Fogo Island and returned home after making her fortune in the fiber optics industry, acts on the belief that global tourism generated by world-class architecture will counteract the economic and population decline of the island. That theory remains to be proven, as the film captures the project only at the optimistic end of construction in 2013, before the guests or artists arrive. In this way, it provides an unsatisfying and incomplete narrative. Likewise, the film - though full of beautiful shots of the dramatic landscape, vernacular architecture, and Saunders’ work - offers only a surface view of the deep sense of place that Cobb and Saunders reference, and limited insight into the creative process that connected the inspiration to the outcome. The film brings up some fascinating questions: how can contemporary design express a culture from an entirely different time and place, and what are the limits of design in rejuvenating a community? Unfortunately, they are not fully addressed in Strange and Familiar’s short 54-minutes.
Awards
- Best Canadian Film, International Festival of Films on Art 2015
- Best Atlantic Documentary, Atlantic Film Festival, 2015
- Best Atlantic Cinematography, Atlantic Film Festival, 2015