Vertical Expectations

Paname: The Ghost of the Great Frenchman(fr)

Ferdinand de Lesseps, known as “The Great Frenchman”, will embark in the greatest adventure of his life: To unite the Pacific and Atlantic oceans through a Canal in the Isthmus of Panama – without knowing that this will cost him his reputation, thousands of innocent lives and the biggest financial scandal of all time, up to that point: the famous “Scandal of Panama”. Today, the French capital is known as “Paname”.

Sex: My British Job(en)

Nick Broomfield met Hsiao Hung Pai, a journalist who was working for the Guardian, when making his feature film 'Ghosts' (about the Morecambe Bay Chinese Cockle Pickers ). As an experiment and using the latest in undercover technology, Nick worked with Hsiao to make a Undercover film set in a Chinese brothel in Finchley. There are over 2000 'illegal' brothels in London,largely ignored by the police and the authorities, which employ 80% foreign nationals, mostly illegal, that are easily exploited by the brothel owners.

The Birth of Punjabi Garage(en)

Yung Singh and Ministry of Sound present: The Birth of Punjabi Garage The documentary has a wealth of unseen archive footage showing exactly how it was in the garages and studios of the young Bradford and Manchester lads from the beginning, to the events, weddings and festivals that marked their success. The documentary is bookended by Yung Singh and his infamous and iconic Boiler Room, giving credit to the elders who paved the way for the continuation of South Asian presence in British dance culture. This documentary was produced in tandem with Yung Singh and is the first documentary to explore the genre. Documentaries have covered Bhangra, the 80s Daytimers and the Asian Underground but the South Asian diaspora’s involvement in the early 2000s Garage scene has never been covered and we are therefore proud to bring this to you!

Folkhemmets Estetik(sv)

Documentary about the architecture of the Swedish housing boom in the 1960s and how it's viewed today.

Brisa Solar(pt)

Mozambique 1974 - the European name of the capital Lourenço Marques was deleted and replaced by Maputo. Between the delicacy and the apocalyptic, Brisa Solar reveals the little secrets of an African city that was born from a modernist dream, which led a revolution and which today sees its cultural heritage and threatened by Chinese capitalism.

The Real Thing(fr)

A smaller scale Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Elysées can be found just outside Shanghai; a copy of St. Peter’s in Rome can be found in Yamoussoukro, in the Ivory Coast: a journey over three continents to see the architecture of imitation, the uncanny world of the fake.

Ralph Erskine(en)

The British architect based in Stockholm looks back on major projects of a long career inspired by European Modernism combined with his personal sensitivity to nature and community. Erskine is especially valued for his vital understanding of social interaction, exemplified in commissions for universities and housing complexes built from Scandinavia to Italy. The architect takes the camera on a tour of his buildings while offering revealing comments and interpretations.

See Me: A Walk Through London's Gay Soho in 1994 and 2020(en)

This film weaves across sound, image, time, rhythm and place and is made up of a number of layers both sound and visual layered on top of one another, talking to and informing each other. It is made using digital transfer versions of c90 tape compilations I made between 1992-1995, juxtaposed with moving image footage of me in 2018 and 2020 and a typeface font graphic ‘See Me’ that I designed in 2005. The c90 cassette on screen is the cassette compilation that I still have from 1994. The film also includes drawings and photographs and other artworks from my personal archive as an artist from the last 25 years. As I walk down the streets that were so important in shaping my life as a young gay man living in London, I revisit the gay bars and pubs that have been my safe spaces for the last twenty years and more, spaces that are now closed.

Alvar Aalto: Technology and Nature(fi)

The Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898–1976) is one of the great figures of modern architecture, ranked alongside Gropius, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. This film analyses Aalto’s uniquely successful resolution of the demands and possibilities created by new technology and construction materials with the need to make his buildings sympathetic both to their users and to their natural surroundings. His inventive use of timber in particular represents both a reference to the forest landscape of Finland and a building material that is ‘warm’ and extremely adaptable. Filmed in Finland, Italy, Germany and the USA, this documentary shows how the Finnish natural environment and art traditions were essential elements in Aalto’s pioneering harmonization of technology and nature.

Look at Life: Goodbye, Piccadilly(en)

This documentary in the Look At Life series – made by the Rank Organisation for screening in Odeon and Gaumont cinemas – was released in 1967 and anticipated a radical redevelopment of Piccadilly Circus, which never actually happened.

Brasilia, Contradictions of a New City(pt)

In 1967, de Andrade was invited by the Italian company Olivetti to produce a documentary on the new Brazilian capital city of Brasília. Constructed during the latter half of the 1950s and founded in 1960, the city was part of an effort to populate Brazil’s vast interior region and was to be the embodiment of democratic urban planning, free from the class divisions and inequalities that characterize so many metropolises. Unsurprisingly, Brasília, Contradições de uma Cidade Nova (Brasília, Contradictions of a New City, 1968) revealed Brasília to be utopic only for the wealthy, replicating the same social problems present in every Brazilian city. (Senses of Cinema)

This is How the Obelisk Was Born(xx)

The construction of the Obelisco in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Pirate Mentality(en)

After a great year for grime, MC Frisco and Risky Roadz go back to its pirate radio roots. - How Pirates Made Grime. Taking grime back from global phenomenon to its pirate radio roots.

Baker Street Live(en)

The sort film “Baker Street Live” is being produced for December 2016 exhibition “The Masterpieces of Russian Cinematography”. The film is aiming to intrigue the viewer by the strength of British culture taking place within Russian cinematography influencing and shaping the soviet and modern Russian society. The story of two puppets – Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson - undertaking an investigation and finding the lost pages scattered around London by which they are mostly intrigued. As the puppets keep finding page by page, they unveil their own story as if one discovers himself from within. And as ever, the successful investigation by Serlock results in the re-union of the lost pages with their lawful owner.

Kwai Shing West Estate(xx)

A homage to the social housing architecture that is so atypical of Hong Kong - especially the Kwai Shing West Estate. About half of the population lives in such building complexes, where one experiences a strong sense of loneliness. The neighborhoods are the scene of modern living conditions, but also of social protests, which have been punishable by life imprisonment in Hong Kong since 2020 due to a new law.

Arquitetura, A Transformação do Espaço(pt)

A film in three movements. In the first one, we find a historical synthesis of Brazilian architecture, from the slaves' dwellings to the Ministry of Education Building. In the second segment, architects such as Burle Marx, Lina Bo Bardi, Grigori Warchavchik and Joaquim Cardoso talk about architecture's social function. In the third movement, inhabitants of some Brazilian cities discuss the space they live in.

Years of Construction(de)

Demolition of the old and building of the new Kunsthalle in Mannheim in the years 2013 to 2018.

Return of the Black Death(en)

The black death had devastating effects in centuries past, but what actually caused it and how many lives did it take? The world has not seen a disease outbreak like it before or since. This film tells the story of skeletons recently unearthed in a long-lost plague cemetery beneath the streets of London. Was it the Bubonic Plague, or as scientists now suspect, an Ebola-like virus?

Uncommon Sense(en)

Uncommon Sense: The Life and Architecture of Laurie Baker" explores both the personal and the professional storyline of the architect. Baker's philosophy was more a way of living than just a way of building. He didn't advocate simplicity while designing, and then lead a lavish life.

Metropolitan Casablanca(fr)