The Real Thing can be streamed from Friday 6 June until Thursday 3 July 2025 for €5,00, only on the AFFR Vimeo-channel. If you don’t want to miss any updates about our online film programme, subscribe to our newsletter or keep an eye on our site and socials.
The Real Thing, ’67, Benoit Felici, 2018
Copying is as old as building itself. But what is real and what is a copy? Confusion about authenticity has only increased over the past half century under the influence of globalization. In The Real Thing, Benoit Felici and Mathias Chelebourg offer an entertaining look at a world in which the quest for identity is more important than ever. Join him on a fascinating global tour of an architectural funfair. Whether it’s London’s Tower Bridge in China, Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Ivory Coast, or a makeshift Taj Mahal in rural India, the film presents a Las Vegas-like carnival of amusement. What do these buildings say about the world from which they sprout? Is nobody concerned about The Real Thing anymore? And is that actually a problem?
Nice, amusing and compact reflection on what's real and what's fake [...] So, enough food for a debate!
– Joep Mol, former festival director AFFR
About ‘The Five Films That Moved You’
AFFR celebrates its 25th anniversary! To mark the occasion, we’re showcasing ‘The Five Films That Moved You’ and will be screening an online public favourite each first Friday of the month – carefully selected from the 1,000+ films screened at the festival since its inception. Our online film programme offers a retrospective on the festival’s rich history while also highlighting AFFR PLAYTIME – the online AFFR cinema launched in 2017. This platform allows us to make more architecture films accessible to a wider audience for an extended period.
AFFR 25 Years!
The first initiative for AFFR – then the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam – began in 2000. That’s why, this year, we’re celebrating our 25th anniversary in grant style. We’re not just looking back but also looking ahead, with retrospectives, debates, classics, immersive media, current issues, and a revamped website.