Architecton Explained

Architecton
Director:Viktor Kossakovsky
Music:Evgueni Galperine
Cinematography:Ben Bernhard
Runtime:98 minutes

Architecton is a 2024 documentary film written and directed by Viktor Kossakovsky. It is an extraordinary journey through the material that makes up our habitat: concrete and its ancestor, stone.[1] [2]

The international co-production between Germany, France and United States, was selected in the Competition at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, where it competed for the Golden Bear and had first screening on 19 February 2024 at Berlinale Palast.[3] [4] The film was also nominated for the Berlinale Documentary Film Award.[5]

Content

Viktor Kossakovsky presents an epic, intimate and poetic meditation on architecture and how the design and construction of buildings from the ancient past reveal our destruction – and offer hope for survival and a way forward.

Kossakovsky reflects on the rise and fall of civilizations while focusing on a landscape project by the Italian architect Michele De Lucchi, using 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.

Production

Architecton, the twelfth feature film by Viktor Kossakovsky was filmed in a schedule of 60 days.[6] It is produced by the German company Ma.ja.de. with the French Point du Jour International and Les films du Balibari in collaboration with A24 and Hailstone Films. ZDF and Arte co-produced the film.[7]

Release

Architecton had its world premiere on 19 February 2024, as part of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, in Competition.[8] [9]

The Cologne-based sales agent The Match Factory has international sales rights to the film before its Berlinale world premiere.[10] [11]

The film will have its first screening at CPH:DOX on 18 March 2024 in Artists & Auteurs section.[12]

The film will also be screened at the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival on 3 April 2024 in Firebird Awards Documentary competition.[13] [14]

It was screened at Lichter Filmfest Frankfurt International, Frankfurt on 19 April 2024.[15] The film was also presented in the International Documentaries section of the 71st Sydney Film Festival on June 6, 2024.[16]

Reception

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes website, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10.[17]

Jordan Mintzer reviewing the film for The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it as "Solid as a rock," and opined, "The director’s latest work, Architecton, is more about death than life, capturing the natural and manmade structures formed out of the planet’s bedrock and manipulated over time, destroyed quickly or gradually and then built anew." Mintzer praised the drone photography writing, "If there were ever an Oscar handed out for drone photography, Architecton would win it hands down this year." Giving positive review Mintzer concluded, "At a time when most documentaries, especially those made for streaming services, consist of little to no visual invention, the director has invented and finessed a cinematic language that says more about the world we live in than all the talking heads in all the Netflix docs combined."[18]

Guy Lodge writing in Variety gave positive review and said, "There is no escaping our own mastery, our own determination of what is beautiful and useful, a man-made work that is very much both of those things, Architecton frustratedly awaits a new world order, or at least a new blueprint."[19]

Lee Marshall wrote in ScreenDaily while reviewing the film at Berlinale, "Even before the opening credits have finished rolling, Architecton impresses."[20]

Nicholas Bell in Ion Cinema rated the film with three and half stars and said, "As we drift through the ruins of the past, a portrait emerges juxtaposing the inherent differences regarding the materials and designs of the present."[21]

Reviewing in Polyester, Gregory Coutaut rated the film with 5/6 and wrote, "Architecton takes off from simple capture to give life to a fantastic universe, close to post-apocalyptic science fiction."[22]

Damon Wise for Deadline began his review by quoting Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli, "There is something new within the sun today, or rather ancient," and felt, "This fascinating, engrossing film interrogates the subtext of this seemingly paradoxical statement." He observed, "Such a concept isn’t all that new, but Kossakovsky’s fascinating, magnetic film essay does help us to reassess what we’ve lost over the centuries." Concluding Wise opined, "Architecton verbalizes something we are all thinking in the modern age of war and climate change:what will we leave behind, and what will it say about us to future generations?"[23]

Accolades

The film was selected in Competition at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, thus it was nominated to compete for Golden Bear award.

AwardDateCategoryRecipientResult
Berlin International Film Festival25 February 2024Golden BearArchitecton[24]
Berlinale Documentary Film Award

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Architecton . Viktor . Kossakovsky . 22 January 2024. 2 February 2024 . . en.
  2. Web site: Architecton . February 2, 2024 . Hailstone Films . en.
  3. Web site: The Berlinale unveils its Competition and Encounters titles . Davide. Abbatescianni . 22 January 2024. 2 February 2024 . . en.
  4. Web site: Architecton. Ma.ja.de. Filmproduktions. February 2, 2024.
  5. Web site: Berlinale Documentary Award and Jury . Berlinale . 1 February 2024 . 2 February 2024.
  6. Web site: Architecton: Documentary Feature – 2022-2024, Architecture, Docu – France, Germany. Crew United . 14 December 2023 . 3 February 2024. en.
  7. Web site: Architecton, Deutschland Frankreich 2022-2024 Dokumentarfilm . Architecton: Germany France 2022-2024 Documentary . filmportal.de . 3 February 2024. de.
  8. Web site: Berlin Reveals 2024 Competition Lineup: Rooney Mara, Mati Diop, Isabelle Huppert, Abderrahmane Sissako Movies Among Selection. . Zac. Ntim. 22 January 2024. 2 February 2024.
  9. Web site: Architecton . Berlinale . 6 February 2024 . 6 February 2024.
  10. Web site: The Match Factory Boards Victor Kossakovsky's A24-Backed Berlinale Doc 'Architecton'. . Melanie . Goodfellow. 31 January 2024. 2 February 2024.
  11. News: The Match Factory Boards Victor Kossakovsky's 'Architecton' Ahead of Berlinale Premiere, A24 to Release in North America . Leo Barraclough . Variety. 31 January 2024 . 2 February 2024 . en.
  12. Web site: Architecton: Victor Kosakovskiy / Germany, France & United States / 2024 / 94 min. CPH:DOX . 23 February 2024 . 23 February 2024.
  13. News: Hong Kong Film Festival to Open With Ray Yeung's 'All Shall Be Well,' Close With Japanese Charmer 'All the Long Nights' . Patrick Frater . Variety. 8 March 2024 . 10 March 2024 . en.
  14. Web site: Architecton . HKIFF. 6 March 2024. 10 March 2024.
  15. Web site: Architecton . 19 April 2024. 4 May 2024 . Lichter Filmfest . en.
  16. Web site: Architecton . Sydney Film Festival Festival. June 6, 2024. July 23, 2024. en.
  17. Architecton (2024, Documentary) . architecton . m . 2 May 2024.
  18. Web site: Architecton' Review: From the Director of 'Gunda,' a Visually Mesmerizing Meditation on the Bedrock of Existence . Jordan Mintzer . The Hollywood Reporter . 19 February 2024 . 19 February 2024. en.
  19. News: 'Architecton' Review: Victor Kossakovsky's Mesmerizing Documentary on What We Take From the Earth to Build Upon It . Guy Lodge . Variety. 19 February 2024 . 19 February 2024 . en.
  20. Web site: Architecton': Berlin Review . Lee . Marshall . 19 February 2024 . 22 February 2024 . . en.
  21. News: Judgment in Stone: Kossakovsky Gazes Into the Concrete Jungle. Nicholas Bell . Ion Cinema . 20 February 2024 . 22 February 2024 . en.
  22. Web site: Berlinale Critique : Architecton . Berlinale Review: Architecton . Gregory Coutaut. Polyester . WordPress . 22 February 2024. 24 February 2024. fr.
  23. Web site: 'Architecton' Review: Victor Kossakovsky's Magnetic Film Essay Reflects On Man's Relationship With Nature – Berlin Film Festival . Damon . Wise . 23 February 2024. 28 February 2024 . . en.
  24. Web site: Berlin film festival reveals 2024 competition line-up. Michael . Rosser . 22 January 2024 . 2 February 2024 . ScreenDaily. en.