NZIFF: Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)

Anton Corbijn’s wildly entertaining doco profiles Hipgnosis, the designers behind the most iconic album covers in rock history for acts like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and many more.

Photographer and designer Anton Corbijn (who directed the striking Joy Division drama Control [NZIFF 2007]) celebrates his forebears in this riotously enjoyable documentary about the amazing imagery produced by the legendary design studio Hipgnosis. The result is jam-packed with inside goss from the era of rock ‘n’ roll excess.
The documentary centres on curious London-based design company Hipgnosis, “which for a stretch from the late 1960s to the early ’80s was the go-to agency for a bewildering variety of album covers that pretty much defined an era in rock. Featuring the illustrious likes of Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel, Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason, and many others, Squaring the Circle is a treat for anyone with a taste for rock or for rock imagery.” – Steve Pond, The Wrap