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Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher, and members of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and more are set to appear in legendary photographer and director Anton Corbijn’s first feature-length film Squaring The Circle: The Story Of Hipgnosis – in cinemas and on demand from July 14. Check out the trailer below.
Hipgnosis was the collective of Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell – and later Peter Christopherson – who created iconic record sleeves for the likes of Pink Floyd, T. Rex, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Paul McCartney & Wings and many more. Some of their most timeless works included ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’, ‘Wish You Were Here’, ‘Houses Of The Holy’ and ‘Electric Warrior’.
Now Corbijn – Depeche Mode‘s regular artistic collaborator who also shot classic images of the likes of U2, Coldplay, The Killers and also directed the cult favourite Joy Division biopic Control – has celebrated the lasting legacy of Hipgnosis with his first full feature-length documentary.
“Growing up in the late ’60s and ’70s, I was obsessed with music and everything connected to it – especially the album covers,” said Corbijn. “The record sleeves were a huge part of my education and I really enjoyed making this film as it allowed me to revisit the things I loved from that time.”
He continued: “I clearly recall the moment I first saw the sleeve for ‘Atom Heart Mother’ by Pink Floyd, and the Peter Gabriel sleeves. They just blew me away and this led me on a journey of discovery towards Hipgnosis, the London-based design studio who designed these and some of the most memorable sleeves from that time.
“Hipgnosis were unique in these early days and they set the bar very high. We are lucky that Po Powell is such a great storyteller, and that everything fell into place despite being filmed during the pandemic. I hope people see it as a fun documentary, as well as an educational one, regarding that period of music and graphic design.”
The film’s synopsis reads how Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell “formed Hipgnosis in Cambridge during the ferment of the ’60s and became rock royalty during the boom time of the ’70s.
“They conjured into existence sights that no one had previously thought possible, produced visuals which popularised music that had previously been considered fringe, and were at the white-hot centre of the maddest, funniest and most creative era in the history of popular music.
“During this period, record companies didn’t dictate to acts like Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Paul McCartney what their LP covers should look like – Storm and Po did. They made money; they lost money. They did great things; they did silly things. They fell out bitterly; they made up. They never played a note, but they changed music.”
Squaring The Circle is made up of archive and new footage, along with brand new interviews with Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel, Graham Gouldman of 10cc, Noel Gallagher, and many more – as well as telling the infamous story of flying a pig over Battersea Power Station for Pink Floyd’s ‘Animals’.
What I love about vinyl is the artwork,” said Gallagher in the trailer. “It’s the poor man’s art collection,” going on to explain how Hipgnosis’ work as “stood the test of time”.
Nick Mason of Pink Floyd described Hipgnosis as: “Scourge of management, record companies and album sleeve printers; champion of bands, music, great ideas and high, infuriatingly high standards; defender of the art over commerce at all times.”
Producers include Trish D Chetty, former Sony Music UK Chairman and CEO Ged Doherty, as well as Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth.
Squaring The Circle will premiere at Sundance Film Festival on July 7, before being released in UK cinemas and on demand from July 14. Visit here for tickets and more information.
The film will be available as a collector’s edition Blu-ray on August 7.
Thorgerson died in 2013, aged 70 – having designed artwork for the likes of Biffy Clyro, The Mars Volta, Yourcodenameis:milo and Muse in the latter part of his life.