Squaring the Circle (15)

Celebrated photographer, creative director and filmmaker Anton Corbijn’s first feature documentary SQUARING THE CIRCLE (the story of hipgnosis) tells the story of Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell, the creative geniuses behind the iconic album art design studio, Hipgnosis, responsible for some of the most recognizable album covers of all time.

Photographer, filmmaker, and art director, Anton Corbijn’s debut documentary feature is an homage to the creative geniuses Hipgnosis, the design studio headed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell, who were responsible for elevating album covers from staid band portraits to high concept art pieces. Working with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, 10cc, Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel among others, Hipgnosis revolutionised what an album cover could be, setting a new standard and influencing artists for generations to come.

Anton Corbijn (Control, The American, A Most Wanted Man) tells the story of how Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell, the design and photography duo who formed Hipgnosis, went from a two-man operation in the late sixties to become rock royalty in their own right by the seventies and firmly at the centre of one of the most creative, fertile eras of rock. Setting up shop on Denmark Street, in London’s Soho, the musician’s alley was the perfect place for the studio to create and conjure images that nobody had previously thought possible. From this dingy studio came Pink Floyd’s ‘Atom Heart Mother’ (1970) and ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ (1973); Led Zeppelin’s ‘Houses of the Holy’ (1973); AC / DC ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’ (1976); and Peter Gabriel’s ‘Peter Gabriel’ (1978) amongst hundred of others.

Cert: 15

Running time: 1hr 41mins