September 24, 2024

Hi friends

It's finally time–the festival kicks off tomorrow night! Did you see Christopher Hawthorne's thoughtful article in the NY Times? It's a good read about ADFF's opening and closing night films.

This year, ADFF:NY's lineup has a little bit of everything. Browse through some of our major themes to find what sparks your interest...

The Environment. If you haven't gotten enough of Climate Week NYC, we're screening two great environmental films. Biocentrics is about biomimicry and the amazing Janine Benyus. Green Over Gray is a journey through Emilio Ambasz's poetic buildings, which are not only environmentally sensitive but also provocative architecture. He was a trailblazer.

Residential Architecture. Into more classic architectural themes like modernism and housing? We've got films for you. This Is Not A House comes to us from Academy Award winning director Morgan Neville, known for Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Won't You Be My Neighbor?, 20 Feet from Stardom, and more. Neville's film screens with The House: 6 Points of Departure, which delves into one of the few residential projects by Architect Thom Mayne, a founder of SCI-ARC and Morphosis. Schindler Space Architect, narrated by Meryl Streep, is about R.M. Schindler, an iconic figure in Los Angeles residential architecture who Frank Gehry calls his guiding light. And not to be missed is New England Modernism, which shows a wide range of famous and lesser-known buildings.

Urban Landscapes. If you're city-curious, then these films should be on your list. Sitting Still profiles landscape architecture and urbanist Laurie Olin, responsible for important outdoor spaces like Bryant Park, Columbus Circle, Pier 26 at Hudson River Park, and Grace Farms, to name just a few. Laurie will be there in person to answer questions following the Saturday screening. Where We Grow Older asks how two radically different cities care for their aging populations. Perception is about Tunisian artist eL Seed and his massive public art project in Cairo that covers 50 buildings and shares a beautiful message. Brooklyn-based filmmaker Kelly Anderson has two films in the festival. Rabble Rousers: Frances Goldin and the Fight for Cooper Square is about a housing organizer and her working-class neighbors fighting Robert Moses to create permanent low-income housing in the Lower East Side. Kelly's other film Emergent City covers a decade of change in Brooklyn's Sunset Park, the city's last industrial waterfront. It's a story about the importance of being involved in your community and government, a good reminder as we all get ready to vote this November.

Women in Architecture. Women are still sadly underrepresented in our field, but we've got three great films about women designers. Ada – My Mother the Architect tells the personal and professional story of one of Israel's most important architects through the directorial vision of her daughter, Yael. In E.1027 – Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea, Gray fights Le Corbusier's desire to control the breathtaking home she built for herself. After the screening, Swiss director Beatrice Minger will answer questions. Stardust: The Story of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown has sold out both theaters on opening night, so we added a screening on Saturday if you want to catch this feminist family film.

Dutch Design. Modern Dutch Design is world-famous, and we have two films that prove the case. See the creative process unfold in DEPOT – Reflecting Boijmans. When a famous old museum in Rotterdam needed to be rebuilt, Winy Maas of MVRDV Architects designed a first-of-its-kind museum next door whose entire collection is on permanent display. There's also Living Together: The Story of De Warren, which follows a group of about 40 people in Amsterdam creating a co-living space from design to construction.

Carlo Scarpa is in a category all his own. The Pavilion on the Water is an appropriately poetic film highlighting a genius architect who made poetry in built form. After the screening, we'll hear from the directors about the decade-long process of honoring Scarpa's work.

It's been a real joy to put this lineup together—one of the best we've ever had. I can't wait for you to see the films, and I hope you like them as much as the rest of the ADFF team.

See you at the theater,

Kyle Bergman

Festival Director