

影片剛開始時,畫面很快就拉到西薩(Álvaro Siza)早年完成的兩個作品,都是座落在出生地Matosinhos城北側的Leça da Palmeira海邊,猜測是因地方人脈委託的設計案。一個是城鎮海邊岩石上的茶餐廳,以及離該作品不遠的⋯⋯

Our world is shaped by design. Spaces, clothing, typography—these elements quietly determine how we live, often without us noticing. Let’s turn our attention to the overlooked details and forgotten corners. How do people with a heightened sensitivity to the world around them experience a city? How do they wear their beliefs? How do they bring imagination into form through their hands? How do they speak about design? And how can design be discussed beyond the realm of iconic masters? What everyday creativity lies just within reach, waiting to be seen?

To document an extraordinary soul through the lens is to constantly wrestle with the dilemma of completeness. How can one capture the vastness of a life within the limited time of a film? It challenges the filmmaker’s depth of understanding and precision of perspective. Rather than striving for an all-encompassing portrait, it may be more powerful to focus on select moments—those glimmers that illuminate the subject’s essence. The camera becomes not only a tool to pierce through the surface, but also a means for sincere conversation with the person in front of it.

Why is it called "Touching the Essence of Humanity"? The phrase is actually drawn from a quote by Steve Jobs in The Lost Interview: “The key is to get in touch with the essence of what it means to be human—and then bring that into the work you do. I believe the reason the Macintosh succeeded is that the people who created it were musicians, poets, artists, zoologists, and historians—who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world. Had they not entered computer science, they would have excelled in their own fields. They brought a sense of humanity into the machine. That humanistic attitude allowed us to draw the best from other disciplines. You can’t do that if you’re narrow.” This film program centers on diversity—selecting classics across five different forms of cinema. Through this range, we aim to explore the roots of what makes a work “classic.” Diversity protects us from narrowness. The essence preserved in each field offers us a broader, more open-hearted way to expand the boundaries of life.
"Everything is scattered, and yet everything is exactly where it should be." —The Watchmaker People often ask me, “Is this a good film?” But whether a film is “good” is deeply personal—it often depends on our own life experiences and what we project onto the screen. There’s no special reason for this list, really. After watching nearly 90% of the films on Giloo, these are the ones that still make my heart skip a beat whenever I see their titles. A truly my top-of-the-top picks playlist—curated by feeling, not formula.