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© John Alaimo
Antoni Gaudí:
An Unfinished Vision

The filming of "Unfinished Vision" was supervised by Alaimo's close friend, professor and architect, Juan Bassegoda Nonell - member of "Friend's of Gaudí" - which also helped add to the film's serious, informative nature. Moreover, Alaimo was dedicated to making this film from the Spanish point of view, and therefore all interviews were done with Spaniards, and whenever possible, scenes were filmed on sight in Barcelona.

To give a real "hands-on" experience of Gaudí's work, the film utilizes several magnifiscent details of Gaudí's various architectural forms, for example, the Pedrara chimneys, the parabolic arch of Colonia Güell, the arches of the College of Teresianas, and the door of Finca Güell. Alaimo notes, "I try to explain 'the why' [of the things Gaudí did with his architecture] by showing what he did. Perhaps this way, the people will come to understand him." Though the film does include many technical architectural descriptions, the work as a whole is not overly-technical, and hence easily understood and entertaining to all audiences. In reality, the images of Gaudí's architectural forms speak for themselves. "The way we photograph and the elected style, I think, make possible an authentic capturing of Gaudí's work," explains Alaimo, who made sure to emphasize everything aspect of the architecture, from construction, form, and light, to mysticism and individualism.

Though the film is only 60 minutes long, and centers around 48 hours in the architect's life, Alaimo claims, "It's an observation of the life and work of Gaudí from the beginning to the very end of his final day. [In this film] all of his work is evoked in these final 48 hours of his life."

According to a 1974 issue of Variety Magazine, "['An Unfinished Vision'] does provide lots of fascinating close-ups of Gaudí's buildings and hypos interest and understanding of them, thanks to good thesping by Vásquez and an intelligent script." The ripple effect of the film's release was also significant in that a system of Spanish work was made known, "national glory" was brought to Spain, and the work of an incredible, avant-garde architect was exposed on the screen.

Alaimo's love of Gaudí and the city of Barcelona continue today, twenty-six years after the release of the documentary. He visits the city frequently, continues to work on his Spanish, and has hopes of eventually moving here permanently.

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