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Remembering the Future with Herb Greene


THE FILM:

An architect reconnects with her reclusive great-uncle and uncovers a nearly lost inheritance of creative freedom that may change the course of her own life.

Filmmaker Lila Cohen journeys into the imaginative world of her great-uncle Herb Greene, a visionary architect and artist whose radically original work emerged from Bruce Goff’s experimental teaching environment in 1950s Oklahoma. 

As Greene enters the final chapter of his life, the film becomes both an intimate portrait and an intergenerational journey exploring a misunderstood branch of American Organic Architecture, capturing its heart and courage to create outside the mainstream.

Blending intimate conversations, rare archival materials, animated drawings, paintings, music, landscape cinematography, and immersive architectural sequences, the film invites viewers to experience architecture not simply as buildings, but as expressions of mem`ory, feeling, imagination, and time.

At its heart, the film explores a living inheritance, not only the preservation of buildings, but of a way of seeing and understanding the world.

Directed and produced by Lila Cohen

herbgreenefilm.com

COMPLETION:

Now in its final stage of post-production, recent work-in-progress screenings have generated deeply moving responses from audiences who have described the film as: “powerful,” “deeply human,” “full of heart,” “a love letter to curiosity and life,” and “an inspiration to creatives of all kinds.” 

The project is currently raising finishing funds for:

• final editing
• archival licensing
• animation
• original music
• color and sound finishing
• graphics
• festival and distribution preparation

All support directly brings this independent film to completion and ensures that Herb Greene’s remarkable artistic legacy can reach wider audiences for generations to come.


Associated Members

Lila Cohen, Producer

SEE MEMBER PROFILE

We are grateful for the generous support of our sponsors:

National Endowments for the Arts
Massachusetts Cultural Council
Lowel Cultural Council
Cabot Family Charitable Trust
Liberty Mutual Foundation
City of Boston Arts and Culture
Melrose Cultural Council
Watertown Community Foundation
Lynn Cultural Council