I couldn’t be a bigger fan of Japanese director, Hiroshi Teshigahara, or recommend more highly his Criterion-collected films from the 60s: Pitfall, Woman In The Dunes, and The Face of Another. Teshigahara has a wonderful way of capturing landscapes, and, much like Antonioni, uses them to suggest some aspect—usually existential—of the human condition.
That being said, I find his documentary on Antonio Gaudi, stunning to watch as a tone poem of sorts, but lacking in terms of providing much context for the Catalan architect. You can check out the complete documentary over at Ubu, titled, simply, Antonio Gaudi, but I just recently stumbled upon a more illuminating point of entry for the architect.
Ken Russell, the British director of such films as Tommy, Women In Love, and Altered States produced his own “film essay” on Gaudi in ‘61. Sidestepping his usual “lurid” mode, Russell’s doc provides all the historical/biographical context missing from Teshigahara’s. Not surprisingly, Russell’s short also accompanies the Criterion reissue of Antonio Gaudi.
For Russell’s take on some truly fantastical buildings, Part I of his film essay follows below with a link at the bottom to Part II.