SPACE December 2022 (No. 661)
Poster, Image courtesy of SIAFF
The Seoul International Architecture Film Festival (SIAFF), the only architecture film festival in Asia that builds a new understanding of architecture and institutes a new fascination with contemporary architecture through film, was held between Oct. 27 and 30 at Art House MOMO in Ewha Womans University. This year’s theme, ‘Connected’, tries to forge connections between foundational meanings in architecture and its role at the present time in a contemporary society that is more cognisant than ever of its global connections due to transnational conflicts, epidemics, and climate change. This year, 24 films across four themed sections were screened simultaneously online and offline.
The first section, ‘Master & Masterpiece’, including this year’s opening film, dealt with the lives and works of world-renowned architects. The opening film, Tadao Ando: Words for the Next Generation (2020) is a message from Tadao Ando to the next generation. The Nakanoshima Children’s Book Forest, introduced as a masterpiece in the movie, is a children’s library that encourages play in a space resembling a natural landscape and whose spaces foster the hope that the children who form our future generations will treasure books. A green apple object stands at the centre of the library. Inspired by the phrase, ‘Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind’ taken from Smule Ullman’s poem Youth, the object symbolises the mindset required for the current generation when facing various emergent challenges.
The second section, ‘Urbanscape’, contended with examples of sites of development and regeneration in Korea and throughout the world. Among them, the Farewell, Garden Terrace (2021) directed by Park Jinhyun highlighted the Daebong-dong Hanyang Garden Terrace, a work by the late Kim Seok Chul. The apartment of 19 households has a garden reminiscent of those in a detached house so that each household can cultivate their own garden in the city centre. Interviews with residents and merchants, who have lived a life ‘enjoying a cup of coffee with a view of spectacular scenery’, are filled with regret ahead of demolition. This suggests that buildings with memories have greater value than arbitrarily recording age.
Meanwhile, the third section, ‘Beyond’, conveyed the pleasure of architectural observation across several areas through a series of works in which the space is at the centre of storytelling. The special section presented how best to deal with worsening climate issues from the perspective of architecture and sustainability. In addition, this film festival held the first offline events in three years, folllowing the hiatus of the pandemic, such as ‘Guest Talk’, featuring directors and experts, and the ‘Host Architect Forum’ with leading architects shaping architectural culture in Korea.
Still image from the Tadao Ando: Words for the Next Generation (2020), Image courtesy of SIAFF
Still image from the Farewell, Garden Terrace (2021), Image courtesy of SIAFF