ASPECT:Cinema returned to Edinburgh College of Art’s Wee Red Bar this month to continue its architectural film series. With a night of shorts including award-winning films from independent filmmakers and artists we decided to explore the concept of craft, materials and environmental change. A huge thank you to all the filmmakers for providing the following shorts that featured in the screening.

SARRAGAN

“Between man and earth, a unique bond is clearly discernible, a metaphor of what we are, of where we come from.” [Louise Ernandez]

French filmmaker and photographer Louise Ernandez was interested in exploring the connection “between man and earth”. She takes us on a journey through the 150-year-old Sarragan limestone quarry in the South of France. The quarry was initiated by the late playwright Jean Deschamps who had a dream to create a theatre made of monolithic stones but this project was sadly abandoned after he died in 2007. Today, in this half-constructed space, comprised of a thousand corridors, towering columns and echoing rooms - all hollowed out by hand - the Sarragan limestone is still extracted by four remaining quarrymen and sold as artists’ materials.

MAKING 25 SAVILLE ROW

“25 Savile Row is about finding elegance in the relationship of simple forms and natural materials. The Japanese have a word for this 'shibui' which refers to a particular aesthetic of simple, subtle and unobtrusive beauty.” [Stuart Piercy]

In ‘Making 25 Saville Row’, photographer and filmmaker Nick Ballon documents the architects Piercy & Company’s redesign of a London office over the period of a year. The film follows the materials, makers and craftsmanship that has gone into the creation of this beautifully crafted project.

STEMS

“I stick and sculpt and keep scraping and putting things together and shaping things, and then suddenly what was just stuff, becomes this character staring back at you.” [Ainslie Henderson]

‘Stems’ is an enchanting 2 minute film by Scottish filmmaker Ainslie Henderson which illustrates the intricate craft of puppet making through the art of stop-motion picture. Using natural and recycled materials, Ainslie rebuilds and gives them a new life as they grow into characters that take on their own personalities.

TORRE DAVID

“a sort of architecture without architects” [Iwan Baan - Architectural photographer]

‘Torre David’ by Urban Think Tank follows the story of an office tower in the city of Caracas, Venezuela, which was left abandoned following the death of it’s developer and the national banking crisis. In 2007, after being left neglected for over a decade, the tower became the improvised home for a community of over 800 families. The film follows the everyday life for the residents living in this ‘vertical slum’ before they were evacuated by the government in 2014.

LOST WORLD

“Here we only have the right to sit, shed tears and witness the destruction of our grandchildren’s home, our village and our way of life”

The award-winning filmmaker, lawyer and storyteller Kalyanee Mam brings us the story of a community’s beloved home being faced with the threat of erasure due to the sand dredging of Cambodia’s mangrove forests, to form the vast infrastructure of Singapore.

REWILD

“the idea of going back, of rewinding, is an invitation to reconnect with ourselves; to recover awareness and respect for the earth, which is the ecosystem of which we are a part” [ESCIF]

We end with a film by Splash and Burn which documents an installation by Spanish artist ESCIF who is seeking to draw attention to the ecological devastation wrought by palm oil farming in Southeast Asia. The installation involved carving a rewind symbol into a palm oil plantation in Sumatra, Indonesia.