On the Stage: Playing with Ruins
One of this years Stages – our annual programme lines – is Playing with Ruins, which brings together films that engage with architecture in various states of decay, transition or reclamation.
From post-war destruction and neglected heritage to colonial remnants and contemporary abandoned buildings, Playing with Ruins brings you stories that are intimate, playful or defiant, but all of them deeply rooted in place and ask how architecture can become a carrier of both loss and renewal. Ruins don’t have to be remants of the past, but also fertile ground for imagination, memory and reinvention.
In the programme Playing with Ruins
The Castle
An indestructible dream castle – that’s how three Sicilian children see their self-built home in the ruins of a nursery on the edge of Palermo. A hopeful portrait of children who, through play, shape their own future.
The Lions By The River Tigris
Amid the ruins of post-ISIS Mosul, three men strive to rebuild not just the city, but also its soul. A fisherman clings to a carved marble lintel, a collector dreams of turning it into a museum piece, and a musician teaches once forbidden songs to a new generation.
The Wall
An elderly man in Palestine tries to keep the wall in front of his house as tidy as possible. Again and again, graffiti appears on it. Each time, he paints over it until he realizes something: the wall is a means of communication for the neighbourhood.
Yalla Parkour
Young people in Gaza film themselves as they reclaim their destroyed surroundings, with Parkour as a form of playful protest and ruins as a playground. A painful reminder of what was, yet full of small moments of joy.