Arquiteturas Film Festival - Human Nature

Read the original version in Portuguese here.

Published on July 06, 2026

The Arquiteturas Film Festival (AFF) is returning to Lisbon soon and has already set its dates. From June 4 to 9, the 7th edition takes over Cinema São Jorge, centering the debate around the theme "Human Nature." Over the course of six days, the 2019 program will feature 62 films—90 percent of which are Portuguese premieres, alongside several world premieres. There will also be various parallel activities, including workshops, masterclasses, children's workshops, guided tours, collective meetings, and more.

As has become tradition, Arquiteturas kickstarts its program with a warm-up. This year features a double event: the first on May 28 at the bar O Bom, o Mau e o Vilão, as a special guest of Shortcutz Lisboa, screening two short films from this year's selection; and the second on May 30, in partnership with Roca Lisbon Gallery, featuring festival curator André Costa, director Sofia Mourato, filmmaker Duarte Natário, and architect Daniela Silva.

The festival opens with the award-winning Melting Souls by François Xavier Destors. The documentary focuses on Norilsk, a "science-fiction city" above the Arctic Circle—a hellish industrial landscape set against an otherwise barren tundra.

Among the highlights of this edition is the Arquiteturas 2019 jury. Architect Ana Tostões (President of DOCOMOMO International), geographer Álvaro Domingues, architect Isabel Barbas, filmmaker Gerrit Messiaen, artist and filmmaker Petra Noordkamp, and architect Tiago Oliveira (representing the Southern Regional Section of the Ordem dos Arquitectos - OASRS) have taken on the task of evaluating 55 works from 26 countries across four categories: Fiction, Documentary, Experimental, and New Talents. The complete program will be announced soon.

Conceptually designed as a broad questioning of the relationship between humans and nature, this year's theme aims to go beyond typical discussions on architecture and sustainability. Instead, it addresses urgent questions regarding spaces transformed and threatened by human action, as well as the repercussions of these actions on human existence.

As a prime example of a territory built through human intervention, the Netherlands has been chosen as the guest country for this edition. Its cross-disciplinary program is curated by Mélanie van der Hoorn and supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Lisbon.

Among numerous other activities, the Dutch collective Failed Architecture—renowned for its case studies on the failures of modernism and urban growth—will host a workshop alongside filmmaker Petra Noordkamp, a two-time best film winner at Arquiteturas. The workshop involves audiovisual research and documentation on the current state of Lisbon's Martim Moniz Square, culminating in film essays produced by the participants.

The Dutch programming also includes a masterclass on archival architecture films with Melanie van der Hoorn, author of Spots in Shots: Narrating the built environment in short films, alongside Tiago Batista (director of ANIM) and João Rosmaninho (University of Minho). Additionally, two architecture firms recognized for their sustainable practices, Bureau Sla and Space & Matter, will be participating.

Portugal will be represented by Russa, by João Salaviza and Ricardo Alves Jr., which explores the collective memory and recent transformations of Porto; Civitas, by André Sarmento, and Alis Ubbo, by Paulo Abreu, both addressing the touristification process in Lisbon. The fiction film Lá vem Dia, by Mercês Tomaz Gomes, examines the relationship between contemporary living and emotional connections. This edition will also feature the premiere of the Portuguese animated short O atelier do meu avô (My Grandfather's Studio) by architect Tiago Galo, screening in the festival's children's section, and the recently released film Tudo é Paisagem (Everything is Landscape), which portrays the history of landscape architecture in Portugal.

Also in focus this year will be filmmaker Andrzej Wajda and his passion for architecture, the Bauhaus centenary, and the radical Italian design and architecture movements of the 1960s and 70s, such as UFO, Archizoom, and Superstudio. The archive of Mexican master Luis Barragán is the subject of the film The Proposal. Aldo Rossi's famous social housing project in Milan, the Gallaratese, is explored in the film Monte Amiata, while the iconic British modernist landmark by architects Alison and Peter Smithson is portrayed in The Disappearance of Robin Hood.

In partnership with RTP, AFF will screen three episodes of Atelier d’Arquitetura, a documentary series exploring the most prominent buildings, structures, concepts, houses, and museums in Portugal, which recently began broadcasting on the public television network. The series' directors will be present for a discussion with the audience.

The edition's sponsors are highlighted through their support of sessions dedicated to themes close to their fields. As the main sponsor, the Portal da Construção Sustentável will host a presentation and discussion for industry professionals interested in sustainable processes and products. ROCA and the Water Foundation sponsor the film session on the depletion of natural river resources in South Africa and Kenya. RSGrupo sponsors the screening of one of the main films in the official selection, Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, using the opportunity to present its visions on geo-architecture.

The complete festival program can be found at this link.