‘Het Architectuur Filmfestival Rotterdam heeft tot doel het organiseren van een regelmatig terugkerend, in Rotterdam plaatsvindend filmfestival, gericht op het bevorderen van zowel de publieke als de professionele belangstelling op het gebied van architectuur en stedenbouw, en voorts al hetgeen in de ruimste zin van het vorenstaande verband houdt of daaraan bevorderlijk kan zijn.”

– Statuten oprichting Stichting Architectuur Filmfestival Rotterdam, juni 2000′

The mission of the AFFR is to bring together the visual worlds of film and architecture; to inspire, to interact, to discuss and create new visions for the changing world around us. AFFR achieves this by carefully curating a film program where the spatial aspects of social, environmental and political problems are highlighted, but also by presenting films in context, by means of discussions with directors and audiences, lectures from experts, masterclasses, and debates. In this way, AFFR screenings are more than just viewing a filmmaker’s work; they are comprehensive ways to debate and contextualise urgent urban topics.

In a world facing overlapping crises, AFFR sees films as an essential tools for research, storytelling and advocacy. Specifically, the AFFR uses film to attract broader audiences to architecture, but also introduces film to architects as a storytelling medium and research tool with distinct capacities. Operating in this highly specific intersection, we advocate for the ‘architecture film’ as a genre, appreciated by both architects and filmmakers. As a festival, we offer a short but intense window of opportunity, where the international architecture community of Rotterdam can come together in one location, meet, greet, and get inspired, and the international community of filmmakers working in this genre can get to know each other and plan new projects together.

Beyond the annual festival in October, AFFR curated year-round side programs in collaboration with a wide range of partners. It is also deeply committed to education and talent development, supporting emerging voices at the intersection of film and the built environment.

The Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam (AFFR) was established in 2000 by the Rotterdam Film Fund, the Netherlands Architecture Institute and the Rotterdam Development Company, and the foundation organised its festival the same year as the first architecture film festival in the world. Festivals also took place again in 2001 and 2003. In 2007 AFFR made a fresh start after a few years of silence. In 2009 the event expanded significantly in terms of visitor numbers and programming, and from 2017 it became an annual festival. With the founding of Club Fountainhead for friends and the King Kong Business Club for relations and networking, AFFR has continued to build up and maintain a loyal following.

Since 2011, AFFR has found its home at LantarenVenster, a cinema on Rotterdam’s Wilheminapier designed by Alvaro Siza, an iconic setting for a festival that brings architecture and film in conversation. AFFR and Rotterdam inextricably linked. Rotterdam profiles itself as an international city for contemporary architecture and urbanism; AFFR contributes to this image as the world’s oldest and largest architecture film festival. This makes AFF an indispensable and unique part of Rotterdam’s architecture culture. With over 15 editions, thousands of screened films and a growing archive, AFFR is also a unique knowledge hub, advising cultural institutions, curating guest programs, and nurturing an emerging genre: the architecture film.

AFFR is a benchmark for architecture film festivals worldwide, and a leading voice in a global network of similar organisations. Through its distinctive mix of critical depth, accessible program and cinematic quality, AFFR continues to inspire both architects and filmmakers, many of whom now choose the festival for their premieres.