BIRD’S NEST

 

 

Directed by Christoph Schaub & Michael Schindhelm

SATURDAY JANUARY 17 4:15 PM CASTRO

Popularly known as the “Bird’s Nest,” China’s National Stadium in Beijing was finished in the nick of time to host the 2008 Olympics events. Documentarians Schaub and Schindhelm tell the multi-tiered story of how the design by Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron survived each grueling phase to completion: the emergence of a resonant concept through collaboration with cultural experts, the feasibility of engineering the world’s largest stadium as budget battles raged, and the realization of the massive construction project within the Chinese political matrix. The breadth of insights expands as Herzog and de Meuron concurrently design an urban development for Jinhua near Shanghai. The architects’ portfolio includes San Francisco’s De Young Museum. --Petra Wehle

 

Co-sponsored by UNITED SWISS SOCIETIES OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA and the SWISS CONSULATE GENERAL OF SAN FRANCISCO

 

 

 

PURCHASE TICKET

Country
Switzerland
Year
2008
Run Time
DigiBeta, 88min., German, English, and Chinese
with English subtitles
Cast
Jacques Herzog
Pierre de Meuron
Ai Weiwei
Dr. Uli Sigg
Camera
Stéphane Kuthy
Matthias Kälin
Christoph Schaub
Screenwriter
Christoph Schaub
Michael Schindhelm
Printsource
Icarus Films
Email
mail@IcarusFilms.com
Directors

Christoph Shaub
was born in 1958 in Zurich, Switzerland. He has written and directed comedy and drama, namely STILLE LIEBE (2001), STERNENBERG (2004), JEUNE HOMME (2006). His documentaries focus on architectural and urban subjects: LIEU, FUNCZIUN e FURMA – L’ARCHITECTURA DA PETER ZUMTHOR E GION A. CAMINADA (1996) DIE REISEN DES SANTIAGO CALATRAVA (1999), and BIRD’S NEST (2008).

Michael Schindhelm
was born in 1960 in Eisenach, Germany. He studied quantum chemistry at Woronesch State University in Russia but became a theater manager in Gera (Germany) and Basel (Switzerland) after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 2003 he directed his first television documentary, LIED DER STEPPE. In 2005 he was appointed general director of the Berlin Opera Trust. Currently he acts as Cultural Chief Executive in Dubai.