Architektur.Film.Sommer 2025
© Photograph: Pablo Leiva
The fourteenth edition of the international architecture film festival presents documentaries, short films and experimental films, and invites film lovers and architecture enthusiasts to linger, watch and engage in conversation under the open sky. The focus is on democracy.
Autocracies and right-wing populism are gaining in influence worldwide. Even countries with a long tradition of democracy are having to recognise that ideals alone are no longer enough to win elections. Trust in institutions and political systems is crumbling. The consequences are manifesting in a weakening of the rule of law and increasing division within society. Democracy is not a given. It must be lived, negotiated and defended. Which spaces facilitate participation? What is the role of public space as a site of political interaction? Democratic structures are experienced first-hand, particularly by those living in and spending their lives in the city. Issues of affordability, ownership and accessibility determine who is heard — and who is not. Architecture and urban planning play a key role here: How are spaces created that serve the common good?
Curators: Lene Benz, Az W; Marlene Rutzendorfer, wonderland
In cooperation with: wonderland – platform for european architecture und dem MuseumsQuartier Wien
Thanks to: Arbeiterkammer Wien & Büro für Mitwirkung, Abteilung Energieplanung der Stadt Wien
PROGRAMME
The Right to Housing
Wed 29.07.2026, 20:30
A Home on Every Floor, NO 2023, 10:50 min, original version with English subtitles, Dir: Signe Rosenlund-Hauglid
The poet Hanna Asefaw grew up with her Eritrean family in municipal housing in Oslo, in the late 1990s. She reflects on community, diversity and failing housing policies with a spoken-word performance.
The Architecture of Sharing: From Crisis to Resilience, CZ 2025, 7:27 min, original version with English subtitles, Dir: Michaela Režová
The Shared Houses cooperative model in the Czech Republic removes housing from the speculative market to build a community-owned network. HabiTAT in Czech!
Brunaupark, CH 2024, 91:00 min, original version with English subtitles, Dir: Felix Hergert, Dominik Zietlow
Brunaupark, Zurich: Five residential complexes, 405 apartments. The Credit Suisse pension fund is planning a new development and has given notice to evict half of the tenants. While many are leaving the estate, some are holding out. The film follows these people through their uncertainty, and chronicles the gradual transformation of their living space over the course of three years.
On the Borders of Democracy
Wed 05.08.2026, 20:30
Dover 82, UK 2025, 5:00 min, no dialogue, Dir: Aria Danaparamita
In 2024, 82 people lost their lives crossing the English Channel in search of sanctuary in the UK. A portrait of the sites of arrival and loss along the coast of Dover.
Notes from Brook House, GB 2025, 28:00 min, original version in English, Dir: Alex Nevill
Where are the borders of the United Kingdom? The landscapes, filmed in 16mm, reveal traces of various borders, such as airports, detention centres and shipping containers. Observations on the ways that migration is perceived and controlled.
Sneak Preview
surprise film (AT 2026, 81:00 min)
Living Democracy
Wed 12.08.2026, Start afternoon programme 16:00, Movie Night 20:30
16:00 hosted in the Az W courtyard
„Arbeiterkammer: Summer in the City“, featuring interactive games for young and old, and legal counselling from the Austrian chamber of commerce.
The City of Vienna’s “Bicycle for Participation” initiative provides a space for co-creation, a hub for exchange and communication, board games and a travelling workshop.
19:00 Panel discussion
Antonia Dika, architect
Thomas Ritt, Arbeiterkammer Wien
Wencke Hertzsch, Referatsleitung Büro für Mitwirkung Stadt Wien
Jola Wieczorek, documentary filmmaker
Moderated by: Lene Benz, Az W; Marlene Rutzendorfer, wonderland
Thanks to: Arbeiterkammer Wien
from 20:30: Movie Night
Affection: Part 1, USA 2025, 3:43 min, original version in English, Dir: Rudolf Stueger
The first part of this film anthology invites viewers to reflect on the political dimension of affection and on coming together in public space.
UNO CITY, AT 2025, 12:06 min, no dialogue, Dir: Wolfgang Lehrner
Officially extraterritorial, while unmistakably part of the urban fabric of Vienna, the UNO City exists in a constant negotiation between inside and outside, sovereignty and cooperation, openness and restriction.
Noch lange keine Lipizzaner, AT 2025, 92:00 min, original version in German, Dir: Olga Kosanović
What is the concept of identity behind legislation that divides society into “us” and “them”? A film about belonging — and the director’s second attempt to finally integrate fully. A cinematic gauntlet, from one government agency to the next.
In cooperation with Büro für Mitwirkung, Abteilung Energieplanung der Stadt Wien (City of Vienna energy planning department office for public participation)
Spaces for the Common Good
Wed 19.08.2026, 20:30
With an Acre, CA 2025, 45:00 min, original version with English subtitles, Dir: Joshua Frank, CCA; concept: Francesco Garutti, Irene Chin
The film accompanies the architect Carla Juaçaba during the planning of a museum for Flor de Café, a collective of small-scale farmers in Brazil. Juaçaba’s ephemeral architecture is inspired by indigenous structures and provides space for knowledge, exchange, and resistance.
Last Days on Lake Trinity, US 2025, 29:38 min, original version in English, Dir: Charlotte Cooley
When a mobile home park in South Florida is closed down by its owner, the world’s largest Christian television network, the residents have until the end of the year to find a new place to live. Shortlisted for an Oscar!
Where We Grow Older, CA 2023, 30:02 min, original version with English subtitles, Dir: Daniel Schwartz, CCA
Where will we live when we are old? Will our city take care of us? How can we design cities and housing for older people and for the people who care for them?