Tickets are now on sale for the 15th edition of the Resene Architecture & Design Film Festival, travelling to venues across Aotearoa New Zealand until Sunday 21 June.

Launched in 2012, the festival showcases the latest and most captivating architecture and design films to audiences in Aotearoa New Zealand. What began as an exclusive programme at Rialto Cinemas in Auckland has grown into a nationwide event, with the 15th edition playing in 13 regions and 14 cinemas. It has become a key annual film festival in Aotearoa New Zealand and is now one of the largest architecture and design film festivals in the world.

The festival will play at these locations: 

A smaller edit of the festival, called ‘Festival Selects’, will play in Wanaka at Cinema Paradiso from Thursday 18 June to Sunday 21 June.

Rialto Cinemas has partnered with Yasmine Ganley and Sara Black to curate the film festival — shaping the artistic vision and securing a selection of architecture and design films.

Curator Yasmine Ganley says, “We are excited to launch our lineup of dynamic and thought-provoking films. This year, our programme includes three feature films, alongside our beloved documentaries and shorts, and sustains the inclusion of locally-created cinema from Aotearoa New Zealand filmmakers.

Innovation, sustainability, and artistic expression are notions that run through this year’s thematic pods: Building for the Community, The Domestic Experience, Light as Form and Hand-Crafted Worlds.”

Kathryn Bennett, Rialto Cinemas’ Group Manager, says: “We’re incredibly thankful to our sponsors for their commitment to ensuring these enriching films continue to have a place on the big screen in Aotearoa New Zealand. A special thank you to our Naming Rights sponsor, Resene, who have been dedicated partners since the festival’s inception. We appreciate their continued involvement.”

The film festival was created by Rialto Cinemas with the support of Resene. Nick Nightingale, Managing Director of Resene, is excited to share the latest edition of the festival with New Zealand audiences: “As Resene celebrates its 80th birthday this year, we’re reminded of our pioneering beginnings. In 1946, my grandfather, Ted Nightingale, created his own paint in a concrete mixer in his Wellington garage to solve a problem no existing product could. Resene’s story is reminiscent of so many others, where a seemingly small solution to a problem becomes a new way of doing things. We often see this in the architecture and design space. We see buildings and landscapes reinvented, we see projects that not only look good but truly work to support those using the space, and we see projects that bring joy to the community, a much-needed beacon of hope and optimism in sometimes trying times. It’s a reminder that creativity, passion, colour and enthusiasm have so much to offer us all.”

“Thanks to Rialto Cinemas, the Resene Architecture & Design Film Festival has overcome its own challenges along the way and now celebrates its 15th anniversary and its status as one of the largest architecture and design festivals in the world. It’s been a privilege to be on the journey since the very first film was shown. We are always delighted to be able to share this fantastic festival with you, in the hopes that it will inspire you as much as it always inspires us,” he added.

This year’s festival is also supported by Gold sponsors Colorsteel, Blum, Go Media and Walsh & Beck. Bronze sponsors Architectural Designers New Zealand (ADNZ), Art News and Inzide, and Film sponsors Brickworks and Allied Concrete.

PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS

New Zealand films

Aotearoa’s creative energy shines this year through films on artists Roy Good in Parallel Universe: The Art and Design of Roy Good and Neil Pardington in the short film Rimurapa by Neil Pardington. The Temple of Kinetic Resonance provides a fresh look at modernist filmmaker and kinetic artist Len Lye, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Hamilton Gardens, an enchanting wander through the world-renowned Hamilton Gardens.

Historical biographical dramas

In a refreshing break from tradition, this year’s programme features a selection of historical and biographical dramas, offering a cinematic dramatisation of the lives of creatives and the complexities behind significant works. The Great Arch uncovers the remarkable true story of Danish architect Johan Otto von Spreckelsen, and the creation of Paris’s monumental Grande Arche. Other highlights include a beautifully observed portrait of photographer Peter Hujar in Peter Hujar’s Day, and a dreamlike imagining of surrealist artist Leonora Carrington in Leonora in the Morning Light.

Festival team favourites 

Highly anticipated films include Stardust: A Story of Love and Architecture, the extraordinary story of the architectural couple Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, two of the most revered architects of the last century; Prickly Mountain and my design/ build life, a dive into Vermont’s scrappy countercultural design/build movement; and The Harvard 5: a story of love, architecture, and a design revolution, a richly drawn reflection on five ground-breaking architects and designers who helped define American Modernism.

Female creatives

Enjoy international portraits of exceptional female creatives such as Italian designer Cini Boeri in The House of Cini Boeri, Lebanese-American painter and philosopher Etel Adnan in Adnan being and time, and Brazilian photographer Anna Mariani in Anna Mariani Photographic Notes.

Tickets, timetables and trailers can be found here.