The Bolivian city of El Alto is known for the highest international airport in the world. But it could also be known for its “Cholets”: The name of this candy-colored and playfully towering building is made up of chalet and cholo – the local term for indigenous people. They were built by the mason, engineer and self-taught architect Freddy Mamani Silvestre. Inside his houses there are shops, apartments and ballrooms for parties, the German Heinz Emigholz filmed them. His documentary “Mamani in El Alto” does not require any dialogue at all. It will be shown on Thursday, March 23 at 7 p.m. at the start of the Architekturfilmtage.
On eight evenings in movie museum 22 short and long films are shown, with the focus this year being on the individual life of the houses. Indigenous building is also the subject of the Canadian film “From Earth to Sky” (Fri., March 24, 9 p.m.), in which architects talk about how they work in times of climate change. On Sunday, March 26, at 5 p.m., filmmakers Thomas Beyer and Adrian Dorschner will be guests, presenting their documentary “Robin Hood Gardens”. It is about a 1970s housing project in London that was demolished a few years ago and rebuilt at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Architecture Film Days, Thursday, March 23rd to Saturday, April 1st, Film Museum, St.-Jakobs-Platz 1