After its fifth successful festival in New York City, the highly acclaimed Architecture & Design Film Festival is proud to announce that it is adding Los Angeles to its annual cycle. From March 12-16, 2014, The Los Angeles Theatre Center is hosting the nation’s largest film festival devoted to the subjects of architecture and design, featuring screenings of 30 short and feature-length films from eight countries curated by Festival Directors Kyle Bergman and Laura Cardello. The screenings are organized into 18 programs that are shown during the five-day festival, accompanied by a unique program of panel discussions and Q&As with filmmakers, architects, designers, and industry leaders.
The City of Angels joins New York and Chicago on the Festival’s circuit, expanding the ADFF’s scope from coast to coast. According to Festival Founder and Director Kyle Bergman, “Los Angeles’ blend of architecture and passion for film make it a natural fit for the Architecture & Design Film Festival. There is no other city in the world with this rich combination.”
The Festival opens on March 12 with If You Build It by Patrick Creadon, the Director of WORDPLAY and I.O.U.S.A. The film offers a captivating look at a radically innovative approach to education, following designer-activists Emily Pilloton and Matt Miller as they lead a group of high school students in rural Bertie County, North Carolina through a yearlong design-build project that challenges the students to not only reinvent their town, but their own sense of what is possible. If You Build It is about the power of design, but it is also about empowering youth.
The Architecture & Design Film Festival also presents urbanism as one of its main themes, with films such as: The Human Scale, a Danish film that is based on the work of revolutionary city planner Jan Gehl; My Brooklyn, which explores the pros and cons of gentrification; 16 Acres, an in-depth look at the rebuilding of Ground Zero with an architectural, political, and emotional perspective; and Lost Rivers, a Canadian film that visits cities around the world, retracing the history of their lost urban rivers and meeting visionary urban thinkers, activists, and artists along the way.
There are also film screenings about beloved design icons like Massimo and Lella Vignelli, Tadao Ando, Paul Smith, and Paolo Soleri, as well as the world premiere of a film on the futuristic, yet naturalistic work of maverick architect Eugene Tssui. In honor of its new host city, ADFF also features films that pay homage to Southern California and its rich and oftentimes complex architectural and design heritage.
In addition to five days of films, ADFF will present panel discussions with design leaders, critics, and filmmakers; a Hennessey + Ingalls pop-up book shop; and unique architectural driving tours of Los Angeles, presented by The Lincoln Motor Company. The official lineup of speakers and topics will be announced at a later date.
Tickets for the Architecture & Design Film Festival can be purchased at The Los Angeles Theatre Center Box Office (514 S. Spring Street) and online at http://www.adfilmfest.com beginning February 12. Pricing is $14 for General Admission, $11 for AIA members, and $8 for students with valid ID.
