Architecture & Design Film Festival: DC

The National Building Museum will again partner with the Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF) to produce and host the event March 24-26, 2022 in Washington, D.C.

ADFF:DC will offer 12 feature-length and short films from around the world that explore a range of timely issues, including innovation and creativity in sustainability, equitable development, historic preservation, and adaptive reuse, as well as the important contributions of indigenous architects and the dynamic nature of design leadership.  ADFF:DC  also offers the first complete in-person program of the present film series in the U.S., after pandemic precautions disrupted previous events in New York and Los Angeles earlier this year.

Architects and designers highlighted in this year’s festival range from icons like Frank Lloyd Wright and Marcel Breuer to lesser-known architects who are making their mark around the world —  including Juha Leiviska, Finland’s most successful contemporary architect, and the British Sarah Wigglesworth, whose design work focuses on impacting positive social change.  Film subjects also include dynamic artists, like architectural installation designer Dani Karavan from Israel, and the irreverent Tim Carey of Judson Studios, based in Los Angeles.  In addition to film screenings, the ADFF:DC includes live Q&A with film directors and subjects, including James Crump, director of Breuer’s Bohemia; Nathan Havey, director of Beyond Zero; and Dorte Mandrup, subject of the film Another Kind of Knowledge.

Featured Films

Another Kind of Knowledge – Portrait of Dorte Mandrup
2021 / 78 min / Denmark
Directors: Marc-Christoph Wagner and Simon Weyhe

Architect of Brutal Poetry
2021 / 70 min / Slovakia
Director: Ladislav Kabos

Battleship Berlin
2021 / 40 min / Germany
Director: Nathan Eddy

Beyond Zero
2021 / 81 min / USA
Director: Nathan Havey

Breuer’s Bohemia
2021 / 73 min / USA
Director: James Crump

From Earth to Sky
2021 / 72 min / Canada
Director: Ron Chapman

High Maintenance – The Life and Work of Dani Karavan
2020 / 66 min / Israel
Director: Barak Heymann

Holy Frit
2020 / 119 min / USA
Director: Justin Monroe

Inside Prora
2019 / 100 min / Germany
Director: Nico Weber

Light Snatcher
2021 / 29 min / Finland
Director: Charlotte Airas

Mau
2021 / 76 min / Austria
Directors: Jono & Benji Bergmann

Mud Frontier: Architecture at the Borderlands
2021 / 63 min / USA
Director: Chris J. Gauthier

Unity Temple: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Modern Masterpiece
2020 / 55 min / USA
Director: Lauren Levine

What Does It Take to Make A Building?
2021 / 27 min / United Kingdom
Director: Jim Stephenson