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The Oscar®-nominated CINEMAX Reel Life documentary MY ARCHITECT chronicles Nathaniel Kahn's epic journey to reconcile the life and work of his mysterious father.
When Louis I. Kahn died of an apparent heart attack, his 11-year-old son Nathaniel read the obituary looking for his name among the relatives, but he was not listed. An illegitimate child from one of Kahn's two affairs, Nathaniel never knew his father well. As an adult, he set out on a journey to better understand this mysterious man, visiting Kahn's buildings and speaking along the way with his father's surviving colleagues and friends and members of Kahn's three "families."
MY ARCHITECT reveals the life of a Jewish immigrant who overcame poverty and a devastating childhood accident to become a celebrated architect, creating some of the most powerful and spiritual buildings of his time. Among the brilliant achievements that earned Kahn acclaim as perhaps the greatest architect of the 20th century are The Phillips Exeter Academy Library at Exeter, NH, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Tex., the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Cal., and the National Capital at Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The intimate narrative reveals the haunting beauty of his monumental creations and goes deep within his intrigue-filled private life. Along the way, Nathaniel introduces a series of characters who are by turns adoring and critical, from members of his three "families," to cabbies who drove Kahn around his native Philadelphia, to former clients. In addition to footage of Kahn's celebrated buildings, MY ARCHITECT also features historical footage of Kahn himself.
As Nathaniel interviews other esteemed architects - including Frank Gehry, I.M. Pei, and Philip Johnson -- he comes to understand the great influence his father had over them. Johnson generously praises Kahn as an artist, saying that all of his own buildings don't add up to even a few of Kahn's. Discussing the Salk Institute, the landmark overlooking the Pacific Ocean that Kahn considered his best work, Pei agrees that it is a "masterpiece." Gehry reveals that many of his own first works came out of "reverence" for Kahn.
At the end of his journey, Nathaniel realizes that his father was a man whose work was the most important thing to him. As architect Shamsul Wares hails Kahn's work, he also acknowledges the void for those closest to him, explaining that "failure to satisfy the family life is an inevitable association of great people." Nathaniel misses the father he hardly knew, but ultimately finds satisfaction, saying, "On this journey, my father became real to me. A man, not a myth."
MY ARCHITECT premiered at the prestigious New Directors/New Films Festival at Lincoln Center in April 2003. In addition to an Oscar(r) nomination earlier this year in the Documentary Features category, the film was honored with a Director's Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary, an IFP Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Documentary, a Sterling Award for Best Documentary Feature from Silverdocs, and an Audience Award at the 2003 Philadelphia International Film Festival.
MY ARCHITECT is directed by Nathaniel Kahn; produced by Susan Rose Behr and Nathaniel Kahn; edited by Sabine Krayenbuhl; director of photography, Bob Richman. For CINEMAX Reel Life: supervising producer, John Hoffman; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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