DC Films
A World to Shape
52 mins | Netherlands | 2022
Nienke Hoogvliet (1989) and Dave Hakkens (1988) represent a new generation of contemporary Dutch Designers. This generation is acutely aware that raw materials are depleting, energy is scarce, and globalization is driving new forms of small-scale production. As makers, they don’t care about existing boundaries between art, design and science. In a WORLD to SHAPE,…
Alice Street
70 mins | USA | 2020
Alice Street is a compelling story of how two artists in Oakland form an unlikely partnership to tackle a four-story mural at a unique intersection where Chinese and Afro-Diasporic communities face the imminent threat of displacement and gentrification. After the conclusion of the mural, the construction of a luxury condominium threatens to demolish the artwork.
Barry Farm: Community, Land and Justice in Washington, DC
50 mins | USA | 2022
This documentary tells a story of a journey for community, land, and for justice. It is a story of Barry Farm, in Southeast DC, the site of one of DC’s first thriving Black communities, later a public housing complex, now under redevelopment. In the cycles of place and displacement, it is a story of the…
Bawa’s Garden
84 mins | United Kingdom, Sri Lanka | 2022
Bawa’s Garden is a road movie in search of the work of renowned Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa. The film follows a protagonist scouring the island for the ‘lost’ garden of Lunuganga. Finding the treasure might be the goal, yet her search is the catalyst for encounters with a series of characters and rarely visited…
Beyond the Life of Forms
63 mins | Italy | 2021
Beyond the Life of Forms is a story dedicated to two works by two great Italian architects of the twentieth century – Carlo Scarpa’s Brion funeral complex in San Vito d'Altivole and Aldo Rossi’s San Cataldo Cemetery in Modena. The film layers architectural images and spoken words from the architect of record and others' voices, demonstrating…
Builders, Housewives and the Construction of Modern Athens
87 mins | Greece | 2021
The city of Athens is so much more than the classical architecture that adorns it since there is a vibrant energy, buzz, and density that fills its streets and neighborhoods. Builders, Housewives and the Construction of Modern Athens unveils a new perspective of the city, examining the most distinctive Athenian building type – the polykatoikía – and the…
Building Bastille! The Tangled and Improbable Story of the Opera Bastille
76 mins | Canada | 2021
A half a billion dollar project, a crushing architectural challenge, an impossible deadline, two warring political titans, and a blind competition. What could go wrong? Building Bastille! is a feature-length documentary that tells the comedic, dramatic, and tangled story of modern history’s most remarkable case of mistaken identity and seized opportunity. Drama ensues when right-wing Jacques…
Committee of Six
37 mins | USA | 2022
Committee of Six is an enactment of archival meeting minutes held at the University of Chicago. The meetings took place in 1955 between community leaders and University officials for the purpose of creating an “Urban Renewal Program" for the neighborhood of Hyde Park, situated in the south side of Chicago. The film documents the process…
Concrete Landscape
72 mins | Brazil | 2022
Concrete Landscape presents a narrative view of the life of Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza, highlighting small strokes of remarkable moments that have changed and influenced his work and daily life. The film explores his relationship with Brazil, including his familial roots and the Ibere Camargo Institution – Siza’s only building in his country.
Fashion Reimagined
92 mins | United Kingdom | 2022
Fashion Reimagined follows Amy Powney, designer of the London brand Mother of Pearl, as she sets out to create a collection that’s ethical and sustainable at every level. Powney’s journey takes a deep dive into the supply chain, uncovering its destructive cycle from deforestation, and animal mutilation to farmer suicide. Q&A follows the screening.
GES-2
77 mins | Russian Federation | 2021
In 2014, the Renzo Piano Building Workshop was tasked by V–A–C Foundation to transform GES-2, a 20,000 sq meter former power plant in Moscow, into a new, global cultural institution providing cultural energy for all. With intimate access to workers, builders, project supervisors, and architects, the director offers an up-close portrait of the transformation of…
Grethe Meyer – The Queen of Danish Design
61 mins | Denmark | 2021
The Queen of Danish Design tells the story of Grethe Meyer, one of the few pioneering women who created classic Danish designs globally renowned for their simplicity, functionality, and longevity in the 1940s and 1950s. Q&A follows the screening.
Maija Isola – Master of Colour and Form
96 mins | Finland | 2021
Finnish artist Maija Isola was one of the first designers of Marimekko – the Finnish design brand known for its vibrant and original prints and colors worldwide. Having designed over 500 prints during her 38-year tenure at the company, Maija not only revolutionized Finnish homes in the 1950s and 60s with her fabric designs but…
Robin Hood Gardens
90 mins | Germany | 2022
The controversial East-London council estate, Robin Hood Gardens, built in 1972 by Alison & Peter Smithson, was not only unloved by its first residents, but also garnered divisive responses from internationally renowned critics. In light of the estate’s fiftieth anniversary, the documentary offers surprising insights from residents and critics of the ostracized project.
Segregated By Design
18 mins | USA | 2019
Segregated By Design examines the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy. A panel discussion follows the screening.
Under Tomorrow’s Sky
75 mins | Netherlands | 2021
Renowned architect and urbanist Winy Maas is passionate about finding innovative solutions for the city of the future. As the co-founder of MVRDV Architects and director of The Why Factory think tank at the Delft University of Technology, Maas advocates for 'high rises on a human scale' – stacked structural volumes with open spaces and…