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Glenn Murcutt – Spirit of Place explores the life and art of Australia’s most famous living architect. Murcutt’s extraordinary international reputation rests on the beauty and integrity of his work. With a swag of international awards (including the prestigious Pritzker Prize) Murcutt has literally put Australian architecture on the world map. And yet, by choice, he has never built outside his own country. Murcutt’s focus instead has been the creation of energy-efficient masterpieces perfectly suited to their environment and his breakthrough designs have influenced architects around the world. This documentary follows Glenn Murcutt, now 80 years old, as he designs his most ambitious project to date – a mosque for an Islamic community in Melbourne.

Photo ©Jesse Marlow

Director

Catherine Hunter

Catherine Hunter is an Australian filmmaker, journalist, television producer and director. Hunter joined the Nine Network’s Sunday program in 1985. After two decades of producing documentary-length cover stories on the arts, she left the program in 2006 to work as a freelance documentary maker, specialising in films about Australian artists. Most of her independent films have been broadcast on ABC TV. In addition to her broadcast documentaries, Hunter has contributed commissioned films for the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Portrait Gallery (Australia) in conjunction with exhibitions of Australian and international artists, including Anselm Kiefer. In 2006 she received a Commendation in the Walkley Awards for Journalism for her profile on architect Peter Stutchbury and in the same year won the Australian Institute of Architects prize for architectural journalism. Hunter’s method is to spend time filming with her subjects at times of great personal and professional significance, often over a period of many years. In 2010 she returned to the subject of an earlier film, Margaret Olley, following the artist as she completed her last works, painted in the 18 months leading up to her death on 26 July 2011. In early 2012 Hunter was with artist Jenny Sages as she dealt with the death of her husband Jack and produced the grieving self-portrait that would cause such a sensation at the Archibald Prize. Australia’s greatest living architect, Glenn Murcutt, allowed Hunter to follow him for nearly a decade as he undertook a rare public commission, a mosque for the Newport Islamic community in Melbourne – a strikingly contemporary building without minarets and domes, designed to be physically and psychologically inclusive. . Hunter documents the growing acceptance of the design, weaving into the narrative the stories of his famous domestic commissions, interviews with those involved, and an intimate biography of his life. The Australian newspaper described Hunter’s film as “beguiling and beautifully balanced.”