In collaboration with DOGA (Norwegian Center for Design and Architecture) and Kunstnernes Hus, ROM has established an annual film festival for architecture and space-related films.

The interest in architecture in Norway is increasing, especially in Oslo, Europe's fastest-growing capital. We are living in a time of rapid cultural changes, where our understanding of the city and physical surroundings is constantly evolving and being updated. Architecture and architecture-related questions always engage us, as evidenced by major construction and urban renewal projects. But architecture is not just a tool for change, renewal, and potential improvement of the city and society. Similar to film, music, visual arts, literature, and performing arts, architecture is a distinct form of artistic expression in our contemporary world.

The First Norwegian Architecture Film Festival

Film and architecture share strong historical ties and similarities, particularly in their ability to explore space. Today, there are nearly 35 architecture film festivals spread across the world. The closest ones are found in Copenhagen (showcasing 66 titles in 2014) and Lund (25 titles in 2015). With Architecture Film Oslo, we are finally establishing a local film festival dedicated to architecture.

In addition to screenings and events at Galleri Rom, Kunstnernes Hus, and DOGA, Cinemateket in Oslo is also a venue for several screenings, including the opening screening on Friday, January 15th at 18:00.

Program: Home. Work. Nowhere... 

The program consists of new international high-quality films selected from the top tier - with six out of a total of eight titles premiering in Norway at the festival! With this program, we aim to explore the physical and mental places people inhabit, both from an individual perspective and in a societal context. We have based the program on three different places: home, work, and "nowhere." How do these places influence people? How do they define them? Or is it the other way around: Do the places themselves influence and define people?

The festival films are a mix of fiction films, documentaries, and hybrids, each approaching these questions in different ways.

About the Films

The opening film 'The Infinite Happiness' (2015) is directed by the highly acclaimed Italian-French duo Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine. In addition to this, ROM will showcase their works 'La Maddalena' and '24 heurs sur place.' At Kunstnernes Hus, the documentary 'Unfinished Spaces' (by Benjamin Murray & Alysa Nahmias, 2011) will be screened, detailing an ambitious project commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Cuba. 'Flotel Europa' (2015, directed by Vladimir Tomic from Sarajevo) is an intimate story of a refugee's encounter with Europe and will be shown at DOGA, thus kicking off the treatment of the theme for this year's Oslo Architecture Triennale: After Belonging. The Swiss-German film 'Concrete Love' (Maurizius Staerkle-Drux, 2015) is a touching film about love for people and the field of architecture. The hybrid film 'Above & Below' (2015) by Nicolas Steiner has been successful at various festivals and is a hypnotically beautiful film about people living in a parallel reality in the United States.