ArchFilmFest London celebrates the connections between film and architecture and aims to open new possibilities for both, says co-director, Charlotte Skene Catling
I first got involved in film scripts between studying and practicing architecture. This influenced my approach, and the structure of storytelling remains core to the way I develop an architectural idea. The most extreme example I experienced of narrative related to architecture was in a former gulag in Siberia, where we designed a series of architectural interventions for a site-specific production of ‘Fidelio’. The palpable history of the prison and Soviet Russia’s systemic repression were overlaid with the libretto (a story of incarceration, love and liberation) and Beethoven’s music, to cathartic effect.
Architecture has the potential to read existing narratives – some site related – and translate them into inhabitable form where they are made perceptible and carry meaning. It has the power to ‘make sense’ of things. I found the connection between architecture and filmmaking compelling, and eventually started making fictional films with our own completed projects to test whether the original intention, often conceived in narrative form, was still intact and legible in the built work. Filmmaking also allows a reclamation of the creative autonomy that exists at the outset of an architectural project, that can be drowned out during the process of building.
Stills from ‘Requiem for Detroit’ (2010, directed by Julien Temple).
These short films took on their own life and were shown in various festivals around the world. It became clear that there are many practitioners from both camps merging the disciplines in fascinating ways with enormous potential.
The idea of an architectural film festival began with the surprising discovery that there had never been one in England”
The idea of an architectural film festival began with the surprising discovery that there had never been one in England. On a trip to Santiago, I met the designer Manuel Toledo Otaegui – a key figure in Chile’s Arqfilmfest – and we hatched a plan to co-found one in London. We now have a passionate team, most from architectural backgrounds, which is helping to make the ArchFilmFest happen. Architecture and film is an immense subject. For the launch of the festival, we are showing how broad the range is while still defining a clear territory.
In the Bargehouse, a raw warehouse by the river, there will be 65 hours of screening time every day, with documentaries, features, films made by architects, pieces by artists using algorithms to morph architecture, animation, drone footage of architecture at risk in conflict zones, virtual reality, three dimensional flythroughs and building scans, and the winning pieces submitted for our international competition.
We have themed the features that play throughout the festival by scale, moving from the room (‘Lift to the Scaffold’, ‘Rear Window’) to the set (‘The Truman Show’, ‘Dogville’), the tower (‘A Clockwork Orange’), the city, and the planet (‘2001: A Space Odyssey’). Many of the films shown will be premiered with their directors present – Julien Temple is presenting three films – but there are also forgotten films, and silent films like ‘Metropolis’ and ‘The Golem’, with sets by architect Hans Poelzig.
If it’s possible to create such seductive imaginary spaces in the virtual world, surely architects can make real spaces that articulate beginnings and ends, have episodic rhythm and surprise”
Symposia will focus on dialogues between architects and filmmakers. By bringing them together with the general public, the festival asks what each can learn from the other. What does it mean if we can completely immerse ourselves in our means of representation? If it’s possible to create such seductive imaginary spaces in the virtual world, surely architects can make real spaces that articulate beginnings and ends, have episodic rhythm and surprise, and trigger excitement, euphoria or introspection? Architecture and filmmaking enable the initiated to structure, strategise, articulate space and plot ideas. Together they can alter the way we see and think about what surrounds us, and by that, they can enable us to create change.
ArchFilmFest London is a six-day, biennial festival that celebrates architectural film through screenings, installations, symposia, workshops and an international film competition. The inaugural ArchFilmFest runs from 6 to 11 June and takes place between two London venues, the ICA and the Bargehouse, OXO Tower. Details: archfilmfest.uk
