Humanity in Architecture with Grace Farms

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Subject: Humanity in Architecture with Grace Farms

January 21, 2025

Join us this weekend for Humanity in Architecture, a selection of films curated from the past 16 years of films presented by ADFF. The festival will take place at Grace Farms in New Cannan, CT, just a quick hour train ride from NYC. This is the first time the SANAA River Building has been used to screen films. We'll use the Sanctuary building as one cinema, the West Barn as a second cinema, and the elegant existing cinema in the Commons. Theaters are filling up, so get your tickets today!

Below are a few of the exciting films screening at Humanity in Architecture.

Charlotte Perriand, Pioneer in the Art of Living

2019 / 52 min / France

Director: Stéphane Ghez

Designer and architect Charlotte Perriand left her mark on the 20th century. Free-spirited and politically engaged, she designed revolutionary furnishings and participated in the invention of modern dwellings that were in harmony with both their inhabitants and their environment. Pioneer in the Art of Living is a notebook of memories, giving an up-close look at everything from Perriand’s avant-garde battles alongside Le Corbusier in the 1930s to her time in Japan, which affirmed a lifestyle based on openness and flexibility. The film reflects on contemporary society through the eyes of one exceptional figure.

Unfinished Spaces

2011 / 86 min / US

Directors: Benjamin Murray and Alysa Nahmias

Unfinished Spaces tells of Cuba’s National Art Schools, designed by three visionary architects in the early days of Castro’s Revolution. These schools were hailed as bold, revolutionary works—before being abandoned and nearly forgotten. Commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in 1961, the schools became vibrant cultural hubs. But as the political landscape shifted, construction was abruptly halted, and the architects were sidelined. Forty years later, an unexpected invitation from Castro brings the exiled architects back to Cuba to complete their dream. This film uncovers the untold story of a revolutionary architectural project, exploring its rise, fall, and rediscovery as a symbol of Cuba’s evolving identity.

Some of you may remember when one of the subjects of Unfinished Spaces, architect Ricardo Porro, attended the film's ADFF opening at the famous Tribeca Cinemas. Porro inspired audiences with his advice that in order to get your work done, you must "fight, fight, fight!" This film was so good that it was loved at both the Havana Film Festival and the Miami Film Festival, quite the feat for a story about a project in Cuba.

Sitting Still

2024 / 90 min / US

Director: Gina Angelone

Dive into the life and work of Laurie Olin, a visionary landscape architect and urbanist. This is an especially exciting venue for the film, as Olin's firm did the landscape design for Grace Farms. Olin is also responsible some of America’s most iconic public spaces, including the Getty Center Gardens, Battery Park City, Columbus Circle, the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden, Bryant Park, and many more. Sitting Still offers an in-depth portrait of this unconventional urban thinker, showcasing his deeply human-centered approach to design. Through a prism of the issues that have shaped his career—urbanization and a lost connection to nature, economic marginalization, and the grave importance of humanity in design—the film reveals Olin’s profoundly social vision.

After the screening, film director Gina Angelone will join us on stage for a Q&A.

We will screen two documentaries by renowned filmmakers Louise Lemoine and Ila Bêka, who have many films in MoMA's permanent collection. Both of Lemoine and Bêka's Humanity in Architecture films have a connection to SANAA, the firm that designed Grace Farms.

Moriyama-san

2018 / 63 min / Italy, France, Japan

Directors: Louise Lemoine and Ila Bêka

Mr. Moriyama is as unconventional as the space he inhabits. Moriyama-San offers an intimate, one-week glimpse into the extraordinary yet ordinary life of a Japanese art, architecture, and music enthusiast living in the iconic Moriyama House. The house, a minimalist architectural marvel designed in 2005 by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA), redefines the concept of domestic life. Through a blend of noise music, experimental cinema, and unconventional reading practices, the film invites viewers into the vibrant, free-flowing world of Moriyama-San, exploring his eclectic passions and creative pursuits.

Tokyo Ride

2022 / 90 min / Italy, France, Japan

Directors: Louise Lemoine and Ila Bêka

Revisiting the genre of the road movie in a diaristic and personal way, the film takes us on board Ryue Nishizawa's vintage Alfa Romeo for a day-long drive through the streets of Tokyo. Nishizawa, one of Japan’s most celebrated architects, reflects on his deep connection to Tokyo, sharing stories about the places he holds dear, the buildings that have shaped his vision, and his own architectural projects. Tokyo Ride is a cinematic meditation on the ways in which architecture and urban space nourish both the mind and the spirit.

ADFF:CHICAGO will take place January 29 and30 at the Chicago Cultural Center and January 31 through February 2 at the Gene Siskel Film Center. We've got a lineup of 11 incredible films with amazing speakers. Click here for tickets and more information.

Below are some festival highlights.

E.1027 – Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea

2024 / 90 min / Switzerland

Directors: Beatrice Minger, Christoph Schaub

She built a house for herself. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a masterpiece.

Irish designer Eileen Gray built a refuge on the Côte d‘Azur in 1929. Her first house is a discrete, avant-garde masterpiece. She named it E.1027, a cryptic marriage of her initials and those of Jean Badovici, with whom she built it. Le Corbusier, upon discovering the house, became intrigued and obsessed. He later covered the walls with murals and published photos of them. Gray described these paintings as vandalism and demanded restitution. He ignored her wishes and instead built his famous Cabanon directly behind E.1027, which dominates the narrative of the site to this day. This is a story about the power of one woman's expression and a man's desire to control it.

This program is co-presented by Molteni.

Green Over Gray: Emilio Ambasz

2024 / 77 min / Italy

Directors: Francesca Molteni, Mattia Colombo

Green Over Gray explores the green architecture revolution through the seminal projects of Emilio Ambasz, a pioneer in the debate on climate impact. This film illustrates how, for forty years, Ambasz has redefined the relationship between humans and their environment, foreseeing a vision of nature as the fulcrum of a historic change. Featuring exclusive interviews with figures such as Tadao Ando and Kengo Kuma, the documentary highlights the importance of emotionally resonant architecture, capable of improving daily life and addressing urban and climate challenges.

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Subject: Humanity in Architecture with Grace Farms