Look at Life: Top People(1960)

Skydancer(en)

For more than 120 years, Mohawk ironworkers have raised America’s modern cityscapes. They are called 'sky walkers' because they walk fearlessly atop steel beams just a foot wide, high above the city. In this nuanced portrait of modern Native Americans' double lives, Jerry McDonald Thundercloud and his colleague Sky shuttle between the hard-drinking Brooklyn lodging houses they call home during the week and their rural reservation, a grueling drive six hours north, where a family weekend awaits. While the men are away working, their wives often struggle to keep their children away from the illegal temptations of an economically deprived area.

Safety on the Move: Track Haulage Safety(en)

Focuses on an open-pit mining operation. Shows huge haulage trucks, pointing out existing and potential hazards involved in their operation. Re-enacts common accidents, explains their causes and outlines the steps necessary to prevent their re-occurrence.

Oravská priehrada(sk)

The silent walls(en)

Every city has its secrets, but it is probably inside houses, behind their silent walls, where they are most intense and human. The Alabado House was built in 1671 as part of Quito’s colonial Old City, surviving centuries of earthquakes, poverty and decay. Over the past five years, dozens of manual laborers have been working to restore it. But its miraculous beauty conceals a long and tragic history. For it was the oppressed indigenous masses who built the Old City, the largest in Latin America.

Titanic's Achilles Heel(en)

An expedition looks into whether Titanic's hull had a construction design flaw that caused her to break apart. Featuring advanced CGI technology, archive documents and photographs, as well as footage from the modern-day History(R) expeditions, "Titanic's Achilles Heel" is a remarkable journey into the ongoing legacy of a ship that continues to capture the world's attention.

The Making of Jurassic World VelociCoaster(en)

An inside look at the creation of Universal Orlando Resort's new Jurassic World VelociCoaster.

Eat Bitter(sg)

A local construction worker and a Chinese engineer are assigned to build a bank in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, one of the poorest countries in the world. But time is short and resources are scarce, and there are rumours in the countryside that a new civil war is brewing. And as if all this wasn’t bad enough, their relationships to their wives are falling apart. ‘Eat Bitter’ mirrors the existential and mundane problems of the two men, while an unlikely friendship and mutual trust blossoms between them. However, the chaotic microcosm of the construction site also mirrors China’s contradictory role in 21st century Africa, with the bank itself as the ultimate symbol of money, power and illusion. Director duo Pascale Appora-Gnekindy and Ningyi Sun themselves represent each of the two cultures, and their film has a unique eye for the human fallibility and irony of it all, but also for how we can reach each other despite all our many differences.

Druzhba: The Friendship Pipeline(de)

"The Pipeline of the Century -- How Soviet Natural Gas Came to the West" by director Matthias Schmidt shows touching personal memories. The production is a treasure trove of material in which previously unpublished visual material about the construction of the century and its builders can be seen. Writer & Director Matthias Schmidt ; A Co-Production by LOOKSfilm and MDR in Cooperation with ARTE

No Further Instructions(es)

The award winner Japanese architect Toyo Ito designed the International Baroque Museum in Puebla, Mexico. He is well known for his majestic buildings in Europe and Asia that rise with nature inspired geometry and complex shapes that could belong in a fantasy. Nobody knew how to build this project until a team of Mexican constructors accepted the challenge after two years of nobody stepping up to it. But there was a catch. They only had 27 weeks to build something comparable to the Guggenheim in NYC. This is the story of that team who tested the Mexican genius to solve a complex puzzle told by the men and women who made it. On time. On a budget. Against all odds.

Brooklyn Bridge(en)

Today it's a symbol of strength and vitality. 135 years ago, it was a source of controversy. This documentary examines the great problems and ingenious solutions that marked the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. From conception to construction, it traces the bridge's transformation from a spectacular feat of heroic engineering to an honored symbol in American culture.

Druckgefäß Kahl(de)

A short, impressionistic documentary about the extremely precise process behind the creation of an autoclave (a reaction container) for a nuclear power plant. Otherworldly electroacoustic soundtrack by Oskar Sala.

Blue Vinyl(en)

With humor, chutzpah and a piece of vinyl siding firmly in hand, Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand and co-director and award-winning cinematographer Daniel B. Gold set out in search of the truth about polyvinyl chloride (PVC), America's most popular plastic. From Long Island to Louisiana to Italy, they unearth the facts about PVC and its effects on human health and the environment.

David Macaulay: Pyramid(en)

How did ancient Egyptians build the Great Pyramid at Giza, joining two million blocks of heavy stone with amazing precision? Who were the leaders who built these enormous structures, and what did these tombs signify? Host David Macaulay explores the history, mythology, and religions of Egypt's people, combining live footage and animation. Take a rare look at the mummy of Ramses II and buried treasure in the sacred Valley of the Kings.

Men at Lunch(en)

This remarkable new documentary explores the story behind one of the most iconic images of the twentieth century: the 1932 photograph of workmen taking their lunch while perched on a girder high above New York City.

An Artisan's Legacy: Tsunekazu Nishioka(ja)

In-depth look at the twilight years, spent training apprentices, of temple builder Nishioka Tsunekazu, who was called the "devil" as he devoted his life to temple architecture. His insistence on the gargantuan timescale of linking life to the next millennium emerges from people who knew him. Remarkable as well for showing the unknown backstage of temple architecture. Nishioka, known as "the last temple carpenter," handled the major Showa-era repairs of Horyuji temple, and in 1990 was at the scene of the reconstruction work for Yakushi temple.

Les folies de l'architecture - Les géants du transport(fr)

Work in Progress(es)

An author spends a year and a half filming what happens as a new apartment building is built in a neighborhood of Barcelona.

Cutting Corners(en)

With building collapses happening around the country, activists band together to confront the real estate developers and hold them accountable for the construction destruction, lives they have destroyed, and deaths they have caused.

The Gambler(en)

This late 1940s/early 1950s rather graphic color film about carelessness and safety operating heavy machinery is presented by Caterpillar.

Talking Architecture, City: Hall(ko)

A documentary film about Seoul City Hall Construction. The construction project has a hard going in every way. A city plan, excessive administrative notions, a design and all got mingled up. Can the project sail, yes?