Documentary
A rare, in-depth artistic journey into the work of internationally acclaimed Swiss architect Mario Botta. The film explores Botta's ever growing curiosity and reflections on the contractions of society through his sacred spaces, a subject very dear to him. Why does globalized society feel the urge to build such spaces? The directors traveled to China, South Korea, Israel, Italy, and Switzerland to discover a passionate and tireless artist, his buildings, and part of his creative process. Botta is one of the few architects who has built places of prayer for three main monotheistic religions. After building many churches, chapels, and synagogue, he is now working on a mosque in China. Through his thoughts and his interaction with artists, colleagues, clients, and family members, the viewers have a glimpse of the man behind the Architect.
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
Dancing Before the Moon
Funkiskungen
Reimagining A Buffalo Landmark
Berlin Babylon
The Untold Story of the Vatican
Sagrada Familia - Gaudi's challenge
Miz Cracker's Favorite Haunts
The Sea of Itami Jun
The Future of Mud: A Tale of Houses and Lives in Djenne
Kubota
City Dreamers
Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy
Architecture of Infinity
Der Stoff, aus dem Träume sind
Bird's Nest - Herzog & de Meuron in China
Lasnamäe
La restanza
A Life's Work
Son of Torum
Architecture: A Performing Art
SIMILAR MOVIES
Dancing Before the Moon
IMDB 0 | May , 2023
Comprising new and archival footage, this film observes rituals performed by the South Asian, African, and Caribbean diaspora in Britain, demonstrating an appreciation of land, community values, and the universe we share with other species and planets.Funkiskungen
IMDB 0 | Jun , 2019
Reimagining A Buffalo Landmark
IMDB 10 | Apr , 2019
The Richardson Olmsted Campus, a former psychiatric center and National Historic Landmark, is seeing new life as it undergoes restoration and adaptation to a modern use.Berlin Babylon
IMDB 7.7 | Sep , 2001
A documentary focusing on the rebuilding projects in Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall.The Untold Story of the Vatican
IMDB 7.3 | Dec , 2020
What started as a simple tomb became over a 2,000 years history the universal seat of Christendom and is today one of the most visited museum in the world with invaluable collections of Arts, Manuscripts, Maps. Using spectacular 3D modelisation and CGI to give viewers as never before a true understanding of the history of this architectural masterpiece and its extensions, the film will also use animation to tell relevant historical events. This heritage site reveals new untold secrets with the help of historians deciphering the Vatican’s rich archives and manuscripts collection and following the restorations at work (newly discovered frescoes by Raphael) and recent excavations. A story where Religion, Politics, Arts and Science meet to assert religious authority and serve as a spiritual benchmark.Sagrada Familia - Gaudi's challenge
IMDB 6.6 | Apr , 2022
Combining real footage, archival footage, fiction and 3D modeling, this unseen documentary traces the history of this spectacular and unfinished work.Miz Cracker's Favorite Haunts
IMDB 0 | Mar , 2024
World-renowned Drag Queen Miz Cracker helps a Texas family that’s experiencing strange occurrences after renovating their 1892 home. As a lover of the paranormal, can Miz Cracker solve their ghost problem and help them coexist peacefully with the spirits?The Sea of Itami Jun
IMDB 0 | Aug , 2019
"Hello. I'm Itami Jun. I apologize for my poor Korean." Itami Jun (Yoo Dongryong), a Korean architect who was born in Japan. This film follows his life through heartwarming architectures for people that he had tried for all his life. The architecture of time that exists for the people, space and the story of an architect who walked his own way between Korea and Japan, Shimizu and Jeju.The Future of Mud: A Tale of Houses and Lives in Djenne
IMDB 0 | Mar , 2026
Through the story of a mason in Djenne, Komusa Tenapo, and his family, this documentary examines an African tradition of mud architecture in Mali. The environmental genius of these ancient construction techniques—thick walls with tiny windows that keep the interiors cool despite the stifling heat—is expressed in strikingly beautiful designs that have won the town of Djenne designation as a World Heritage site.Kubota
IMDB 0 | Jul , 1982
A film featuring architect, sculptor, and musician Nobuo Kubota in a sound-sculpture performance. From within a cage-like structure filled with traditional musical instruments and sound-making devices fashioned from ordinary objects and toys, Kubota creates an aural/visual montage of musical notes and noises. Praised by music educators as a valuable tool for teaching creativity in sound exploration and musical innovation, the film reveals the infinite percussion possibilities of simple objects and presents a portrait of a versatile performer whose imagination has led him far beyond the confines of conventional music. Directed by Jonny Silver - 1982 | 20 minCity Dreamers
IMDB 8 | Nov , 2018
Urban architecture as seen through the eyes of four female veterans in the field.Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy
IMDB 7.8 | Oct , 2018
Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy is a feature-length documentary film highlighting the history of the Crownsville State Mental Hospital in Crownsville, MD.Architecture of Infinity
IMDB 6 | Jan , 2019
How can structures, which take up defined, rigid portions of space, make us feel transcendence? How can chapels turn into places of introspection? How can walls grant boundless freedom? Driven by intense childhood impressions, director Christoph Schaub visits extraordinary churches, both ancient and futuristic, and discovers works of art that take him up to the skies and all the way down to the bottom of the ocean. With the help of architects Peter Zumthor, Peter Märkli, and Álvaro Siza Vieira, artists James Turrell and Cristina Iglesias, and drummer Sergé “Jojo” Mayer, he tries to make sense of the world and decipher our spiritual experiences using the seemingly abstract concepts of light, time, rhythm, sound, and shape. The superb cinematography turns this contemplative search into a multi-sensory experience.Der Stoff, aus dem Träume sind
IMDB 0 | Apr , 2019
What motivates people to organize communal living themselves? What ideals are behind it, how do they finance themselves, and how does life in a community work? Based on six self-managed residential buildings in Austria from the past 40 years, the documentary film "Der Stoff, aus dem Träume sind" (The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of) sets out to find answers. Filmmakers Lotte Schreiber and Michael Rieper tell these six stories by staying very close to the protagonists.Bird's Nest - Herzog & de Meuron in China
IMDB 0 | Jan , 2008
Schaub and Schindelm’s documentary follows two Swiss star architects, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, on two very different projects: the national stadium for the Olympic summer games in Peking 2008 and a city area in the provincial town of Jinhua, China.Lasnamäe
IMDB 0 | Apr , 1986
The director asks straightforward questions in a phone call to the lead architect of the district of Lasnamäe, Malle Meelak. The topics include the bureaucracy, planning and living quality in the brutalist district of panel houses. He gets surprisingly straightforward answers because Meelak doesn't know that the call is being recorded. Later, in a public interview conducted in front of the camera, Meelak's answers are quite different.La restanza
IMDB 0 | Oct , 2021
Castiglione d'Otranto, in the South of Italy. A group of thirty-year-olds no longer accept that the solution to the economic, ecological and political problems of the territory is always "to leave". They propose to the villagers who own pieces of uncultivated land, often felt as a burden, to put them in common. They decide to stay, to link their lives to the land and to invest in a value: being together. Castiglione becomes the village of restance. They cultivate ancient seeds and local biodiversity, they make decisions together, they develop a local economy. Accepting the shadows of the past, another potential of the place is rediscovered.A Life's Work
IMDB 7 | Sep , 2020
What’s it like to dedicate your life to work that won’t be completed in your lifetime? Fifteen years ago, filmmaker David Licata focused on four projects and the people behind them in an effort to answer this universal question.Son of Torum
IMDB 0 | Feb , 1989
In the same vein as Meri's other documentations, this one takes advantage of the glasnost policy to discuss the social and ecologic impact of the Russian oil industry on the natives and the lands they inhabit.Architecture: A Performing Art
IMDB 0 | Jun , 1979
This is the story of John Andrews, world-famous Australian architect. In the mid-1960s, when only 29, Andrews was commissioned to design Scarborough College at Toronto University. One of the world’s first ‘megastructures’, it was an important experiment in urban and educational planning. Andrews also designed the Canadian National Tower in Toronto, which was the tallest freestanding structure in the world at the time it was built.