Ark Rex takes viewers on a journey to the meeting points of humans, the built environment and nature
Greina (2024), dir. Patrick Thurston and Aron Nick
The architecture film festival Ark Rex once again brings a diverse selection of feature-length and short architecture films to Lasipalatsi. Through its program, the festival delves into the challenges faced by the field – from demolition and wars to climate change – yet without forgetting hope and opportunities amidst difficult times.
The Ark Rex Architecture Film Festival was founded in 2019 and since then, has been organised in November, every second year. This time, the festival takes place on 15–16 November, featuring architecture films from Swiss, American, German, and Danish filmmakers, among others, on the big screen at Lasipalatsi. Alongside the screenings, the festival also includes discussions and interviews with the filmmakers.
This year's themes explore change and permanence, as well as the challenges faced by architects and engineers – but also beauty, experimentation, and the hope these new approaches can bring. The selection of films covers topics such as construction, memory, the aesthetic and material durability of architectural art.
The festival opens with City. Climate. Sustainability., a series produced by ARTE. The four-part program explores how different European countries and cities respond to the challenges posed by the environment and climate change. In the documentary Architecton, directed by Victor Kossakovsky, untouched nature and human-built structures are placed side by side, and in opposition. Visually stunning and sonically powerful, the film poses a pressing question: what remains when humanity extracts materials from the earth, builds, demolishes, and destroys the very structures it once created?
Patrick Thurston’s Greina tells the story of two architects – Thurston and his father. The film is a powerful account of persistent activism in defense of mountain landscapes and their untouched natural state. Patrick Thurston himself will be present at the screening and the discussion that follows. Meanwhile, Antti Lovag – Bird of Paradise transports viewers to the French Riviera. Directed by Kathrin Pitterling, the film follows architect Thomas Willemeit on his journey to explore the unique works of Antti Lovag. Willemeit will also be attending the screening. The Riviera theme continues with E.1027 – Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea, a film depicting the love story of Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici.
The program also features films such as The Great Arch, The Hall, Space of Becoming, and bauhaus forever – works that ask: what are we building, for whom, and why? And what can architecture achieve and reveal about our time?
Check out the full festival program and get your tickets via this link. During the festival, free screenings will also be available in the lobby.
The film festival’s program is planned by the artistic director, architect SAFA Tarja Nurmi, together with Elizaveta Parkkonen, Helena Teräväinen, Jere Pääkkönen, Petteri Kummala, Jonni Roos, and Pia-Marie Lahti.
