The Real Thing

Memories of Origin: Hiroshi Sugimoto

March 2012 •Japanese

This documentary follows 200 days in the life of contemporary artist Hiroshi Sugimoto— a leading presence in the world of modern art. He is the winner of many prestigious awards and his photographs are sold for millions of yen at overseas auctions. The film shows the sites of the Architecture series shot in southern France, the huge installation art work at 17th Biennale of Sydney, his new work Mathematics at Provence, his art studio while working on Lightning Fields, and more. It thoroughly pursues the question Sugimoto's works pose - "living in modern times, what are these works trying to tell us?" A thrilling look into the world of Hiroshi Sugimoto.

Stuttgart Shanghai

March 2007 •English

A young pair from Stuttgart fly to Shanghai to hop aboard the textile business of his father while she prepares for the birth of their son. A story about the ever more common movement of Germans into the East for professional gain.

The Adventures of Anais Nin

July 2015 •English

Groundbreaking author Anais Nin's diaries are explored in this docudrama. When young reporter Leah discovers Nin's provocative writings, she uncovers a life lived with freedom, liberation and passion. Blurring the lines between drama and doc, "Adventures" gives a glimpse into the life of a legendary artist.

Jaime Lerner - Uma História de Sonhos

September 2016 •Portuguese

The Architect: A Montford Point Marine

September 2023 •English

In this dynamic and dramatic short film, an African American veteran takes us on an extraordinary journey through his life. From a chance visit to the Pentagon, to growing up in a vibrant integrated neighborhood, his story is one of resilience and inspiration. Fueled by the determination to seize educational opportunities, he enlists just in time to experience the racial divisions of his era before Truman desegregates the military. Thrust into the brutality of the Korean War, the weight of combat becomes an indelible part of his soul. Returning home, he embarks on a new path as an architect and discovers unexpected connections in far-off Pakistan. As his family expands, his sons reflect on the man who raised them and the legacy he instilled. This film unearths the essence of the Black experience in the early 20th century, paints a vivid portrait of the Chosin Reservoir, and unravels the intricate tapestry of race, family, and personal growth.

Trip to Asia: The Quest for Harmony

February 2008 •German

Journey with the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic and their conductor Sir Simon Rattle on a breakneck concert tour of six metropolises across Asia: Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo. Their artistic triumph onstage belies a dynamic and dramatic life backstage. The orchestra is a closed society that observes its own laws and traditions, and in the words of one of its musicians is, “an island, a democratic microcosm – almost without precedent in the music world - whose social structure and cohesion is not only founded on a common love for music but also informed by competition, compulsion and the pressure to perform to a high pitch of excellence... .” Never before has the Berlin Philharmonic allowed such intimate and exclusive access into its private world.

Gaudí, le génie visionnaire de Barcelone

May 2022 •French

In Barcelona, the Casa Batlló alone sums up the genius of Antoni Gaudí. During the exhibition devoted to it by the Musée d'Orsay, we take a guided tour of this eccentric, colorful residence, completed in 1906.

Viva El Vedado

Invalid date •English

Viva El Vedado presents the history of the Havana neighborhood of El Vedado from the last quarter of the 19th century through the Cuban Revolution and highlights its varied and outstanding architecture. Known as a cultural center of Havana, Vedado is particularly notable for its unique collection of Cuban architecture of the 20th century. The film’s goal is to introduce its audiences to the neighborhood’s remarkable architecture, its vibrant life, and the need for preserving Vedado as part of Havana’s heritage. It is a glimpse beyond tourist fantasies and stereotypes, a rare view of one of Havana’s most important neighborhoods.

Apollonie, les dieux avaient raison

May 2022 •French

The Hermits

May 2019 •Spanish

In the midst of the chaos of México City, a group of eight bachelor millennials who call themselves ´The Hermits´, open the doors to their tiny apartments in the historic Ermita Building, in the yet-to-be gentrified neighborhood of Tacubaya, and share their life experiences in a time when precarity changes the way in which we love, feel and relate to each other. As we explore the homes of these eight neighbors, we also witness their personalities intersect in a Whatsapp chat, a virtual space that functions as a supporting system that helps them face the adversities that living alone in this city brings.

Château d'If : La Prison du comte de Monte-Cristo

August 2024 •French

The Cultural History of Museums

May 2022 •German

From the cabinets of curiosities created in Italy during the 16th century to the prestigious cultural institutions of today, a history of museums that analyzes the social and political changes that have taken place over the centuries.

Gaudi, Catalunya

January 1959 •Japanese

In 1959 Hiroshi Teshigahara shot the following 16 mm footage of he and his father’s first trip to Barcelona and the outlying Catalonian countryside, including a visit to the home of Salvador Dali in Port Lligat. The footage was recorded without sound.

Amancio Williams

November 2013 •English

A biography documentary of the Argentine modernist architect Amancio Williams.

A Abóbada

February 2021 •Portuguese

An adaptation of the story with the same name by Portuguese writer Alexandre Herculano.

Moriyama-San

March 2017 •English

One week in the extraordinary-ordinary life of Mr. Moriyama, a Japanese art, architecture and music enlighted amateur who lives in one of the most famous contemporary Japanese architecture, the Moriyama house, built in Tokyo in 2005 by Pritzker-prize winner Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA). Introduced in the intimacy of this experimental microcosm which redefines completely the common sense of domestic life, Ila Bêka recounts in a very spontaneous and personal way the unique personality of the owner: a urban hermit living in a small archipelago of peace and contemplation in the heart of Tokyo. From noise music to experimental movies, the film let us enter into the ramification of the Mr. Moriyama's free spirit. Moriyama-San, the first film about noise music, acrobatic reading, silent movies, fireworks and Japanese architecture!

The Little Ancestor

September 2024 •

An ancestral house builds itself, comes to life, and shows us its story spanning one hundred fifty years. Through the ages, it allows us to perceive the passage of time.

Valldaura: A Quarantine Cabin

July 2022 •Spanish

A group of young architects, confined to a forest in Barcelona during the COVID crisis, explore the problems generated by the ambition of wanting to be completely self-sufficient.

Architects Herzog and deMeuron: The Alchemy of Building & The Tate Modern

July 2001 •English

Visiting examples of Herzog and de Meurons ground-breaking style, this film reflects their capacity to astonish and explore the way in which they transform what might otherwise be ordinary through new treatments and techniques.

Inside Piano

March 2013 •Italian

The fifth project of the Living Architectures series, Inside Piano is composed of three films on three symbolic buildings of Renzo Piano's career. A visit throughout the prototype-building of the Centre Pompidou. An immersion in the soundproof world of a submarine floating in the depths of the Parisian underground. A journey aboard a luminous magic carpet of a highly sophisticated architectural machine. A humorous, caustic and quirky point of view.