The Eight Best Films to See at the Architecture and Design Film Festival

The third annual Architecture and Design Film Festival is coming to New Zealand this May. One of the largest film festivals of its kind, the festival features a prominent emphasis on eco-friendly design, radical individuality and ethically-conscious city planning. The festival tackles all the grittier issues of design making it a go-to event for any architect, city planner or person interested in design.

We've rounded up the eight best films from the festival, from a documentary on the radically individual and eco-friendly Eugene Tssui to the ethically-disturbing city planning tactics of Istanbul in Ekumenopolis, City Without Limits. Enjoy.

1. TELOS: The Fantastic World of Eugene Tssui

TELOS chronicles the unorthodox and revolutionary life of Eugene Tssui. Fiercely individual and controversial, Tssui, who is somewhat an eco-friendly Leonardo da Vinci of our generation, has been behind some of the craziest eco designs - most of which remain unbuilt and rejected in favour of the status quo.

Some of Tssui's designs have included a (purple sequined) solar power suit; a bridge over Gibraltar which would span 13 kilometres and include a floating island equipped with wind-powered and underwater turbines capable of powering most of Morocco and Southern Spain; and a 600-metre-tall observation tower in Shenzhen, China which would be equipped with over 92 eggbeater wind turbines capable of producing 5 megawatts of power each.

Screening in Auckland: May 9 at 3:15pm, May 11 at 2:15pm, May 12 at 11:45am, May 15 at 6:45pm, May 17 at 12:15pm.

Screening in Wellington: June 1 at 5:15pm, June 6 at 7:15pm.

2. Tadao Ando: From Emptiness to Infinity

"Within a community we perceive that we are by ourselves. The essence of architecture is to open the hearts of the people and to move them in such a way that they are glad to be on earth." Tadao Ando

From Emptiness to Infinity explores the award-winning self-taught architect's brutalist style. Known as the Japanese "Master of Minimalism" and the father of haiku (Japanese for 'nothingness') architecture, Ando innovated a way of architecture which fused together Japanese tradition, contemporary modernism and human-based design.

Screening in Auckland: May 9 at 8:55pm; May 13 at 11:45am; May 14 at 5:15pm; May 17 at 8:45pm

Screening in Wellington: May 30 at 3pm; June 4 at 5:15pm; June 8 at 7:15pm

3. Lucien Herve: A Photographer Despite Himself

The official personal photographer of famous French architect Le Corbusier was dubbed as a photographer with "the soul of an archtect", by Le Corbusier himself. Lucien Herve is one of the most important photographers of the 20th century, photographing not only Le Corbusier's work but also the work of other famous architects, such as Rchard Neutra and Henri Matisse. His high-angle, oblique-perspective, sparse and abstract style made his work memorable and unique among his contemporaries. The documentary gives an insight into Herve's way of working as well as his personal turmoils.

Screening in Auckland: May 9 at 12pm, May 12 at 8:45pm, May 16 at 3pm, May 17 at 6:45pm.

Screening in Wellington: June 2 at 2pm, June 5 at 5:30pm.

4. My Brooklyn

Downtown Brooklyn-based documentary filmmaker Kelly Anderson explores the 'makeover' which hit the neighbourhood she grew up in. The gentrification of Brooklyn's Fulton mall saw a hundred small African-American and Carribbean businesses displaced in favour of luxury condos and chain retail stores, slowly supplicating the current neighbourhood for a more upper class and commercially-driven one.

Anderson explores the policies, the people and the the principles of the shift in Downtown Brooklyn's socio-economic populace. The film's ultimately questions 'who has a right to live in a city and determine its future?'

Screening in Auckland: May 9 at 4:45pm, May 12 at 10am, May 15 at 5pm, May 18 at 2pm.

Screening in Wellington: June 4 at 3:30pm, June 6 at 5:30pm.

5. Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution

When a group of African-American models boarded a plane to Paris they had no idea that they were about to irrevocably smash two glass ceilings of the high fashion world. The 1973 Grand Divertissement at Versailles pitted five French couture lions (Givenchy, Dior, Ungaro, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Cardin) against five American designers (Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Anne Klein, Stephen Burrows and Bill Bass) for the honour of being titled the more fashionable side of the Pacific.

The event became known as ready-to-wear's iconic coming out party; as well as establishing black models as desirable in French high fashion.  Up until 1973 no one in Paris "had ever seen a black model on a runway," Oscar de la Renta observed.

Screening in Auckland: May 10 at 1:15pm, May 14 at 3:15pm, May 18 at 8pm.

Screening in Wellington: May 31 at 3pm, June 3 at 12:15pm, June 7 at 1pm.

6. Frank Lloyd Wright and Japanese Art

Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture is acutely aware of and interacts with nature - one of his most famous designs Fallingwater, a house built over a waterfall, is a key example.  Another one of his great inspirations was Japanese art. Frank Lloyd and Japanese Art explores the interplay between Japanese aesthetics and the philosophy of America's foremost architect.

Screening in Auckland: May 10 at 3:15pm, May 12 at 3:45pm, May 13 at 8:55pm, May 16 at 8:45pm.

Screening in Wellington: May 31 at 5pm, June 8 at 2pm.

7. Lost Rivers

Water (and by definition rivers) is the foundation of life. But through industrialisation we've slowly ignored and submerged the foundation with which we built our cities, covering our rivers or using them as waster pipes - leading to water pollution, flash flooding and other urban problems. Lost Rivers is a quest to find the forgotten and disappeared underground rivers around the world and to try to bring them back.

Screening in Auckland: May 10 at 10am, May 12 at 6:45pm, May 15 at 1:45pm, May 18 at 10am.

Screening in Wellington: June 2 at 5pm, June 3 at 2:15pm.

8. Ekumenopolis, City Without Limits

Ekumenopolis, City Without Limits follows a migrant family in Istanbul struggling for housing rights after their neighbourhood becomes demolished in favour of new developments. The film explores the city at a macro level from the perspective of the experts to the homeless living in the railway tunnel. The film questions whether Istanbul, along with other mega-cities around the world, is on a journey to self-improvement or a neo-liberal course to destruction.

Screening in Auckland: May 10 at 7pm, May 11 at 12:15pm, May 14 at 12pm, May 18 at 3:45pm.

Screening in Wellington: May 30 at 4:15pm, June 6 at 3:30pm.