The film screenings and the panel discussions at this mini-festival within the Biennale Architettura 2023 will reveal the tensions between space, buildings, moving images and presentations.
As part of the regular Carnival program, La Biennale di Venezia is featuring a “mini-festival” that will delve into the complex relationship between cinema and architecture. This is a special event that is going to showcase films from different cultures and regions, curated by the renowned architect and writer Lesley Lokko. The screenings will be held on September 26th and 27th, 2023, at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale, a historic venue that has been transformed into a vibrant and colorful space for the Biennale Architettura 2023.
The carnival film screenings are part of the New Carnival events, a series of activities and performances that celebrate the diversity and creativity of architecture and its relation to society. The New Carnival events have been supported by Rolex, a partner of La Biennale di Venezia, since 2002.
The films selected by Lesley Lokko reflect her vision of architecture as a way of storytelling, exploring themes such as identity, belonging, memory, and resistance. Among the films that will be screened are Rumba Rules, New Genealogies by Sammy Baloji, a documentary that proposes an incursion into the arcana of monumental African music, set in the DR Congo; Wajib by Annemarie Jacir, a drama about a father and son delivering wedding invitations in Nazareth; and Ferenj by Ainslee Alem Robson, a hybrid film that mixes animation and live action to tell the story of an Ethiopian-American girl who is coming to grips with her mixed-racial identity.
Other artists in the selection include Amos Gitaï, Luis Urbano, Ila Bêka & Louise Lemoine and more. The program includes two panel discussions with participating artists. La Biennale Architettura is open until 26 November 2023.