The Film and Architecture Studio offers a comprehensive method to use cinematic language in architecture and urban design. It is a hands-on studio that focuses on learning and understanding the narrative of filmmaking as a way to explore the built environment. Participants in this course are introduced to the essential elements of filmmaking and learn how to relate these to architecture and the city. The focus of the studio is not so much on the technical aspects of filmmaking and post-production, but rather on film as a way to structure your thoughts and to turn your findings into a gripping story.
Course structure
Following the theme of ‘Guilty Architecture’ as the central topic of AFFR 2020, participants will go through various stages of filmmaking to discover it’s meaning in a specific part of Rotterdam’s city centre. Trough short exercises and conversations with various cinematic professionals, we’ll explore framing as a way of looking at the city, talk about the main principles of storytelling, and dive into the use of scenario’s as a means to structure and relate different elements to develop a certain narrative.
The Film & Architecture Studio is organized by the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam and the Independent School for the City. The studio is open to students and (young) professionals in the fields of architecture, design, cinematography and other urban studies. Although it might be useful, the film and architecture studio does not require an advanced experience in filmmaking or special equipment like cameras or editing tools. All recording tools are welcome, but a smartphone and laptop would work as bare essentials.
The twelfth Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam will take place 7 – 11 October 2020
Tutors
Jord den Hollander
After having finished his master’s in architecture at the Technical University of Delft, Jord den Hollander followed a course in scenario writing at the Filmschool in London. Throughout his career he has often combined both disciplines. He has made documentaries about art and architecture, has written and directed internationally acclaimed television series for children about art and science and is curator of the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam (www.affr.nl), the world’s biggest architecture film festival, which he co-founded in 2002. In addition, he has designed a unique oeuvre that includes an architecture centre for children in Almere, a mobile kid’s library, a floating hotel and a tensegrity bicycle bridge.
Thomas Kist
Thomas Kist is an award winning cameraman who’s career spans over 30 years of film and documentary making. He worked together with renowned directors like Theo van Gogh, Steve Buscemi and Stanley Tucci. He is praised for his documentary work on art, architecture and theatre. The 65 episodes of the travelogue he filmed all over the word with writer Boudewijn Buch are still seen as an example for television making in a new and exploring way.
Hans Christian Post
Hans Christian Post is a writer and filmmaker. Having a PhD in Modern Culture from the university of Copenhagen his main field of research is cultural and urban memory. With Dresden and Berlin as primary cases, he has written extensively on the intertwining of city planning, building preservation, memory, and history politics
Since 2014, he has worked independently as film maker and producer. In 2015, he finished his first documentary, Last Exit Alexanderplatz, which was followed by Whose city? in 2017. The theatre film We are here came out in early 2019, and later that year, he completed Where·to with history?, his fourth film to date. This film will have it’s Dutch premiere in October at AFFR 2020.
Course schedule
Wednesday 30 September
10:00 – 10:30 Welcome and general introduction
10:30 – 11:30 Introduction Film and Architecture by Jord den Hollander
11:30 – 12:15 Introduction Guilty Architecture by Independent School for the City
12:15 – 12:30 Briefing on first assignment.
12:30 – 16:30 Participants at work
16:30 – 18:00 Presentations and conversation findings of the day
18:00 – 19:00 Presentation by Jord den Hollander, next assignment
Thursday 1 October
10:00 – 11:30 Development of action plan
11:30 – 16:30 Participants at work
16:30 – 18:00 Presentations and conversation findings of the day
18:00 – 19:00 Presentation by Jord den Hollander, next assignment
20:00 – 21:30 Presentation and conversation with director Thomas Kist
Friday 2 October
10:00 – 16:30 Participants at work
16:30 – 19:00 Presentations and conversation on production of the day and feedback for completion
20:00 – 21:30 Presentation and conversation with filmmaker Hans Christian Post
Saturday 3 October
10:00 – 15:00 Participants at work
15:00 – 17:00 Screening of films and a conversation about the outcomes