Der Stoff, aus dem Träume sind

The Richardson Olmsted Campus, a former psychiatric center and National Historic Landmark, is seeing new life as it undergoes restoration and adaptation to a modern use.

Castiglione d'Otranto, in the South of Italy. A group of thirty-year-olds no longer accept that the solution to the economic, ecological and political problems of the territory is always "to leave". They propose to the villagers who own pieces of uncultivated land, often felt as a burden, to put them in common. They decide to stay, to link their lives to the land and to invest in a value: being together. Castiglione becomes the village of restance. They cultivate ancient seeds and local biodiversity, they make decisions together, they develop a local economy. Accepting the shadows of the past, another potential of the place is rediscovered.

A history of Bucharest, as seen in the light of the totalitarian architecture, having as leading idea the reality that the Power always exposes its purposes through architecture. After five decades of communism, the reality on thee Dark Ages is still waiting to be revealed, and architecture is one of the most obvious embodiments of the ideology to whom it was builtÉ It is not a movie about faults or about guilty peoples, but about official edifices of thee communist Romania and their story.

The construction of the Obelisco in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

"Clean Lines, Open Spaces: A View of Mid-Century Modern Architecture" focuses on the construction boom in the United States after World War II. Sometimes considered cold and unattractive, mid-century modern designs were a by-product of post-war optimism and reflected a nation's dedication to building a new future. This new architecture used modern materials such as reinforced concrete, glass and steel and was defined by clean lines, simple shapes and unornamented facades.

Nazi Third Reich propaganda film that used architecture as a statement about "racial accomplishment," and so called "racial superiority." Hitler claimed that between 1934 and 1940, the Nazi rule of Germany had produced architectural uniqueness, and this film was produced to shown to attempt to validate that. The opening montage gives a survey of earlier Gothic and Baroque structures in the country as an example of "architectural superiority" that the German race was said to be the sole inventor of; then moves on to deride the recent construction of the Bauhaus school (with a racially motivated score of Jazz music) and an example of German "architectural decay." Then proceeds to show off buildings constructed by the Nazi and an architectural revival, to "last 1000 years," Film also spends a great of time dwelling on massive and "busy" monuments that had been erected all over the county.

An intimate portrait of Christopher Alexander, a critic of modern architecture on a lifelong quest to build harmonious, livable places in today’s world. The film tells the story of two projects – a spectacular high school in Japan and an innovative homeless shelter in California. For Alexander, feelings come first, users are deeply engaged and process is paramount. We discover what happens when an architect’s unconventional method collides with standard practices in his profession.

Zustandswechsel

A documentary focusing on the rebuilding projects in Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Urban architecture as seen through the eyes of four female veterans in the field.

A ház

Vladimir 518, uncompromising rapper, artist, stage designer and activist, is a rare phenomenon, who not only writes books, but publishes them as well. Today also a respected authority primarily on pre-1989 architecture, he has written not only a major publication on the subject, but also the story for two audiovisual works treating the same theme, which were shot by Jan Zajíček, renowned director of music videos. In addition to the recent TV series we have the eagerly anticipated feature-length film which, through its fascinating and impressive exploration of Czech and Slovak architecture of the latter half of the 20th century, offers exclusive insight into extraordinary buildings and unique individuals living below the Tatra Mountains. Karel Och (kviff.com)

A Zen priest in San Francisco and cookbook author use Zen Buddhism and cooking to relate to everyday life.

What started as a simple tomb became over a 2,000 years history the universal seat of Christendom and is today one of the most visited museum in the world with invaluable collections of Arts, Manuscripts, Maps. Using spectacular 3D modelisation and CGI to give viewers as never before a true understanding of the history of this architectural masterpiece and its extensions, the film will also use animation to tell relevant historical events. This heritage site reveals new untold secrets with the help of historians deciphering the Vatican’s rich archives and manuscripts collection and following the restorations at work (newly discovered frescoes by Raphael) and recent excavations. A story where Religion, Politics, Arts and Science meet to assert religious authority and serve as a spiritual benchmark.

A film essay investigating the question of what “the West” means beyond the cardinal direction: a model of society inscribed itself in the Federal Republic of Germany’s postwar history and architecture. The narrator shifts among reflections on modern architecture and property relations, detailed scenes from childhood, and a passed-down memory of a “hemmed-in West Germany,” recalling the years of her parents’ membership in a 1970s communist splinter group.

"Politics for Austria," "Fairness," "We provide security"-election slogans that promise a return to bygone morals, adorn the city of Vienna before the Austrian national parliamentary elections in 2017. The mistrust with regard to supposed political elites, coupled with promises made by the right wing populist parties, polarize Austrian society. INLAND offers intimate insight into the lives of its protagonists and thereby draws a genre picture of their fears and hopes in complex times.

In the same vein as Meri's other documentations, this one takes advantage of the glasnost policy to discuss the social and ecologic impact of the Russian oil industry on the natives and the lands they inhabit.

Combining real footage, archival footage, fiction and 3D modeling, this unseen documentary traces the history of this spectacular and unfinished work.

In 1967, de Andrade was invited by the Italian company Olivetti to produce a documentary on the new Brazilian capital city of Brasília. Constructed during the latter half of the 1950s and founded in 1960, the city was part of an effort to populate Brazil’s vast interior region and was to be the embodiment of democratic urban planning, free from the class divisions and inequalities that characterize so many metropolises. Unsurprisingly, Brasília, Contradições de uma Cidade Nova (Brasília, Contradictions of a New City, 1968) revealed Brasília to be utopic only for the wealthy, replicating the same social problems present in every Brazilian city. (Senses of Cinema)

Chronicling the events surrounding the protests generated by the proposed redevelopment of an empty lot at 105 Keefer St., located at the heart of Vancouver's Chinatown.