New Shorts #11 The Architecture of Re-Assurance
18:15 Mon 9 Jan 2012
Architecture is all around us, both in the city we live in and in more remote areas. It defines our existence at work, at home and at play. This selection of short films puts architecture at the forefront, with documentary-style and experimental portraits. We see Dubai as an unfinished post-apocalyptic city in the spectacular Mirage; a Scottish new-town built for a non-existent population that never came in A Thousand Trees; and the cottage home of an elderly lady who has to adapt to her remote surroundings as she gets older in The Folly.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers and other guests from the world of architecture, in association with Passenger Films. Passenger Films are a film enterprise, made up of researchers and film fans, which brings hot topics from cultural geography to the film-going communities of London. Monthly events combine screenings with think tanks, discussions, speakers, and drinks.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/
Ticktes for this screening + panel discussion are available on the Hackney Picturehouse website.
Films listed below are in alphabetical order:
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A THOUSAND TREES
Ed Lawrenson 20 mins (UK, 2011)
In the late 1940s a town is built from scratch to house workers for a Scottish coal mine. With the pit long closed, the original residents reflect on their memories of this developing community, and contrast the promise of those early days with the lived-in reality of the town today. -
CODIFIED SPACE
Justin Ascott 5 mins (UK, 2011)
Architecture is a system of signs that structure patterns of social use. But what happens when a building falls into disuse and no longer serves its intended function? Does it continue to transmit its own secret signals? -
DRY
Nic Wassell 14 mins (UK, 2011)
Emily travels the streets of London with her Polaroid camera. The places are like photos, disjointed and divided, as she takes her own picture again and again, trying to find what was making her so happy in those other pictures... -
MIRAGE
Srdan Keca 42 mins (UK, 2011)
A poetic exploration of the city of Dubai and the surrounding desert, following the 2009/10 economic crash. -
THE FOLLY
Mira Aroyo 19 mins (UK, 2011)
Perched high on top of a hill, the Folly looks out over buzzards diving for prey while Veronica Marston, the charismatic 82-year old owner of the Folly, loves the freedom it has given her over the years.