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Cinema, in its purest form, immerses us in delicate imagery of mountains, stones, sand, and concrete, and explores how these elements relate to architecture's devastating reality and destructive magnitude.
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Nominated for Editing
Victor Kossakovsky and Ainara Vera
Nominated for Sound
Alexander Dudarev
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Original title: Architecton Year of Production: 2024 Duration: 98 min Country of Production: Germany, France, USA Languages: Italian, English Subtitles: English Director: Victor Kossakovsky Cinematographer: Ben Bernhard Editor: Victor Kossakovsky, Ainara Vera Sound Design: Alexander Dudarev Producer: Heino Deckert

From legendary documentary filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky (director of “Belovs,” “Gunda,” “Aquarela”) comes an epic, intimate, and poetic meditation on architecture. This film explores how the design and construction of buildings from the ancient past reveal our destructive tendencies and offer hope for survival and a way forward.

Focusing on a landscape project by Italian architect Michele de Lucci, Kossakovsky uses the circle to reflect on the rise and fall of civilizations, capturing breathtaking imagery from the temple ruins of Baalbek in Lebanon, dating back to AD 60, to the recent destruction of cities in Turkey following a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in early 2023.

Rocks and stones connect disparate societies, from ghostly monoliths embedded in the earth to tragic heaps of concrete rubble waiting to be hauled off and repurposed. Through Kossakovsky’s inquisitive lens, the grandeur and folly of humanity and its precarious relationship with nature pose an urgent question: How do we build, and how can we build better before it’s too late?

Join also for a post-screening conversation with director Victor Kossakovsky, whose films have won over 100 international awards, recognised for their majestic cinematic language.

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Victor Kossakovsky is an innovative documentary filmmaker whose films have been honoured with more than 100 awards at national and international festivals. His distinctive filmography ranges widely in subject matter but always explores the interplay between reality and poetic moments.

Victor Kossakovsky is a Russian filmmaker renowned for his innovative documentaries. He began his career in 1978 at the Leningrad Studio of Documentaries and studied screenwriting and directing in Moscow. His breakthrough came with The Belovs (1992), winning multiple international awards, including the VPRO Joris Ivens and Audience awards at IDFA. He is known for his multifaceted roles as director, editor, cinematographer, and writer. Kossakovsky's films, such as ¡Vivan Las Antipodas! (2011) and Aquarela, have received global recognition. His previous film, Gunda, produced by Joaquin Phoenix, premiered at Berlinale 2020, where his film Architecton also debuted earlier this year. Kossakovsky continues teaching and mentoring filmmakers worldwide while creating his unique cinema that blends poetics and reality.

“I have never asked people to do something or say something. But unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, all of my films look like fiction.”
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Editors: Victor Kossakovsky, Ainara Vera

Victor Kossakovsky is a Russian filmmaker renowned for his innovative documentaries. He began his career in 1978 at the Leningrad Studio of Documentaries and studied screenwriting and directing in Moscow. His breakthrough came with The Belovs (1992), winning multiple international awards, including the VPRO Joris Ivens and Audience awards at IDFA. He is known for his multifaceted roles as director, editor, cinematographer, and writer.

Ainara Vera studied Audiovisual Communication at the University of Navarra. She obtained a master’s degree in Creative Documentary Filmmaking at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. Her filmmaking journey began with the premiere of her first documentary short film, Sertres, which debuted in the official selection of the Locarno Film Festival in 2014. Following it, her hour-long documentary, See You Tomorrow, God Willing!, was selected for competition at IDFA in 2017. In addition to her directorial work, she has contributed as the First Assistant Director on films including Varicella and Aquarela directed by Victor Kossakovsky. She also co-wrote Gunda, which premiered at the Encounters Berlin Film Festival in 2020.

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The Russian sound designer and composer is nominated for this year's Sound Design Award for the film Architecton (2024).

Composer, sound designer and sound editor from Russia, Alexander Dudarev has a long path within sound and has worked on numerous of Kossakovsky’s films. He was nominated at Gullruten (Best Sound Design 2023) and won the Amanda Award for Best Sound Design in 2021.