The Film and Architecture festival will kick off today at the Světozor cinema in Prague

Prague - The film The Engineer's Dream will kick off the 11th edition of the Film and Architecture Festival today at the Světozor cinema in Prague. The story pays tribute to Peter Rice, who collaborated on significant buildings of the late 20th century such as the Sydney Opera House, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Lloyd’s Building in London. The event, subtitled Breaking Points, will visit around twenty Czech and Slovak cities until October 4. It will present 34 short and feature-length films as well as discussions with creators and experts.

"A large portion of these films unfortunately will never reach Czech distribution. However, this does not mean that they don't have anything to offer the average viewer; quite the opposite. Regardless of whether they are from the field or not, attendees have a unique opportunity to understand the important role that the shape and form of our environment plays for each of us," stated festival curator Karolína Vacková.

The festival will feature not only renowned works and personalities of the architectural scene, such as Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill, Israeli sculptor Dani Karavan, this year's Pritzker Prize laureate Francis Kéré, or the first lady of Czech architecture Alena Šrámková. It will also focus on lesser-known creators behind famous buildings, current architectural topics such as the handling of realizations from the second half of the 20th century, and the creation of alternative and sustainable building methods.

The Breaking Points section is dedicated, among other things, to brutalism – its reception by the public, its often unhappy fate, and the search for new forms of use for these buildings.

The Film and Architecture Festival takes place in parallel with the Architecture Day Festival, which from September 30 to October 6 offers around 300 free-access events in a hundred cities and towns across the Czech Republic and Slovakia, inviting attendees to excursions to normally inaccessible buildings, architectural walks, bike rides, lectures, and programs for children. More information can be found at www.filmarchitektura.cz.