If you’ve never been to the National Building Museum, this is the perfect week to go.
The D.C. museum is hosting the fifth annual Architecture & Design Film Festival in Judiciary Square, screening a slate of 16 films from Thursday through Sunday.
“It is the world’s largest film festival about architecture,” President & Executive Director Aileen Fuchs told WTOP. “It’s really about the impact of design on fashion, on sustainability, on urban planning, on the environment, so it’s an amazing lineup of content.”
The festival kicks off Thursday with the opening night screening of Spencer Wilkinson’s documentary “Alice Street,” chronicling community activism around a mural.
“That’s really a film about the power of public art and the complexities of gentrification in an Oakland, California, neighborhood,” Fuchs said. “We’ve been partnering D.C. public high school students with this filmmaker, who’s been working with them on public-art activism, they’re making public art, which will be on display at the museum this summer.”
Friday brings Mark Lopez’s animated documentary “Segregated By Design,” which “really examines the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America,” Fuchs said.
Saturday brings Becky Hunter’s documentary “Fashion Reimagined,” which “follows a designer named Amy Powney, her brand is London-based called Mother of Pearl. It follows her trying to create a collection that is ethical sustainable at every level,” Fuchs said.
It all wraps Sunday with the documentary “Barry Farm: Community, Land and Justice in Washington D.C.,” directed by local filmmakers Samuel George and Sabiyha Prince.
“Barry Farm in Anacostia in Southeast D.C. is the site of one our first thriving Black communities that later became a public housing complex and now is under redevelopment with real housing affordability goals. … It’s a national story, but for our residents talking about something here.”
Listen to our full conversation here.
