The Real Thing

May 1, 2018

0h 55m

★ 7.6

Real life in fake cities

Overview

A smaller scale Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Elysées can be found just outside Shanghai; a copy of St. Peter’s in Rome can be found in Yamoussoukro, in the Ivory Coast: a journey over three continents to see the architecture of imitation, the uncanny world of the fake.

Genres

Documentary

TV Movie

Production Companies

Artline Films

ARTE

The Real Thing Trailers

Cast

Self - Narrator (voice)

Benoît Felici

Self - Photographer

Bianca Bosker

Self - Priest

Stanislas Skuza

Self - Priest

Jean-Noël Loucou

Self - Architect

Anthony Mackay

Self - Geographer

Jean-François Staszak

In 2024, the iconic Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht will celebrate its 100th anniversary. Gerrit Rietveld designed and built the house in close collaboration with his secret lover and creative partner Truus Schröder. Rietveld himself did not build his houses for eternity; he thought a life cycle of 50 years was sufficient. But the current owners of houses designed by Rietveld think differently about this. They pull out all the stops to renovate and preserve their Rietveld houses.

6.0

Architecture of Infinity

Jan 31, 2019

How can structures, which take up defined, rigid portions of space, make us feel transcendence? How can chapels turn into places of introspection? How can walls grant boundless freedom? Driven by intense childhood impressions, director Christoph Schaub visits extraordinary churches, both ancient and futuristic, and discovers works of art that take him up to the skies and all the way down to the bottom of the ocean. With the help of architects Peter Zumthor, Peter Märkli, and Álvaro Siza Vieira, artists James Turrell and Cristina Iglesias, and drummer Sergé “Jojo” Mayer, he tries to make sense of the world and decipher our spiritual experiences using the seemingly abstract concepts of light, time, rhythm, sound, and shape. The superb cinematography turns this contemplative search into a multi-sensory experience.

0.0

Jaime Lerner - Uma História de Sonhos

Sep 8, 2016

No overview available.

0.0

Paris l'éternel

Jan 1, 2024

A legendary city everyone dreams of visiting, Paris has retained all its authenticity, resembling more a collection of villages rather than one major metropolis. From the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame de Paris, we discover the French capital's most emblematic monuments, and the vibrant life of its boulevards

No Image Available

0.0

Funkiskungen

Jun 11, 2019

No overview available.

8.0

Cologne Cathedral: The French Cathedral on the Rhine

Sep 21, 2024

An exploration of Cologne Cathedral, an emblematic monument and world heritage site. The towering place of worship took over 600 years to complete. Once the tallest building in the world, its ornate facade remains a masterpiece of Gothic architecture - and a reflection of the evolution of Franco-German relations.

0.0

Nebraska's Capitol Masterpiece

Jan 24, 2014

Nebraska's Capitol is a national historic landmark ... a masterpiece of art and architecture, and the spirit of everything Nebraskan. Explore the enduring nature of Nebraska's statehouse and how its visionary design portrays Nebraska's people, its history, and democracy.

7.5

Brasilia, Contradictions of a New City

Jan 1, 1968

In 1967, de Andrade was invited by the Italian company Olivetti to produce a documentary on the new Brazilian capital city of Brasília. Constructed during the latter half of the 1950s and founded in 1960, the city was part of an effort to populate Brazil’s vast interior region and was to be the embodiment of democratic urban planning, free from the class divisions and inequalities that characterize so many metropolises. Unsurprisingly, Brasília, Contradições de uma Cidade Nova (Brasília, Contradictions of a New City, 1968) revealed Brasília to be utopic only for the wealthy, replicating the same social problems present in every Brazilian city. (Senses of Cinema)

0.0

DUE SEGNI

May 19, 2022

A film commissioned by architects Vitangelo Ardito and Nicoletta Faccitondo (Polytechnic University of Bari) as a companion piece to the book 'Umberto Riva. Perciò è sempre una sorpresa - 19 conversazioni'.

0.8

The Adventures of Anais Nin

Jul 22, 2015

Groundbreaking author Anais Nin's diaries are explored in this docudrama. When young reporter Leah discovers Nin's provocative writings, she uncovers a life lived with freedom, liberation and passion. Blurring the lines between drama and doc, "Adventures" gives a glimpse into the life of a legendary artist.

10.0

Trip to Asia: The Quest for Harmony

Feb 28, 2008

Journey with the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic and their conductor Sir Simon Rattle on a breakneck concert tour of six metropolises across Asia: Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo. Their artistic triumph onstage belies a dynamic and dramatic life backstage. The orchestra is a closed society that observes its own laws and traditions, and in the words of one of its musicians is, “an island, a democratic microcosm – almost without precedent in the music world - whose social structure and cohesion is not only founded on a common love for music but also informed by competition, compulsion and the pressure to perform to a high pitch of excellence... .” Never before has the Berlin Philharmonic allowed such intimate and exclusive access into its private world.

10.0

Reimagining A Buffalo Landmark

Apr 12, 2019

The Richardson Olmsted Campus, a former psychiatric center and National Historic Landmark, is seeing new life as it undergoes restoration and adaptation to a modern use.

0.0

The Architect: A Montford Point Marine

Sep 30, 2023

In this dynamic and dramatic short film, an African American veteran takes us on an extraordinary journey through his life. From a chance visit to the Pentagon, to growing up in a vibrant integrated neighborhood, his story is one of resilience and inspiration. Fueled by the determination to seize educational opportunities, he enlists just in time to experience the racial divisions of his era before Truman desegregates the military. Thrust into the brutality of the Korean War, the weight of combat becomes an indelible part of his soul. Returning home, he embarks on a new path as an architect and discovers unexpected connections in far-off Pakistan. As his family expands, his sons reflect on the man who raised them and the legacy he instilled. This film unearths the essence of the Black experience in the early 20th century, paints a vivid portrait of the Chosin Reservoir, and unravels the intricate tapestry of race, family, and personal growth.

8.0

The Gaudi Code

Mar 14, 2015

La Sagrada Familia – although still under construction in Barcelona – is a cathedral without any flaws. Almost 100 years after his death, experts are convinced that Gaudi was a mathematical genius and that each embellishing ornament of the Sagrada Familia actually serves an architectural purpose.

5.5

Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future

Dec 27, 2016

Best known for designing National Historic Landmarks such as St. Louis’ iconic Gateway Arch and the General Motors Technical Center, Saarinen also designed New York’s TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Yale University’s Ingalls Rink and Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges, Virginia’s Dulles Airport, and modernist pedestal furniture like the Tulip chair.

7.2

Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy

Oct 18, 2018

Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy is a feature-length documentary film highlighting the history of the Crownsville State Mental Hospital in Crownsville, MD.

6.0

Memories of Origin: Hiroshi Sugimoto

Mar 31, 2012

This documentary follows 200 days in the life of contemporary artist Hiroshi Sugimoto— a leading presence in the world of modern art. He is the winner of many prestigious awards and his photographs are sold for millions of yen at overseas auctions. The film shows the sites of the Architecture series shot in southern France, the huge installation art work at 17th Biennale of Sydney, his new work Mathematics at Provence, his art studio while working on Lightning Fields, and more. It thoroughly pursues the question Sugimoto's works pose - "living in modern times, what are these works trying to tell us?" A thrilling look into the world of Hiroshi Sugimoto.

No Image Available

5.0

Stuttgart Shanghai

Mar 1, 2007

A young pair from Stuttgart fly to Shanghai to hop aboard the textile business of his father while she prepares for the birth of their son. A story about the ever more common movement of Germans into the East for professional gain.

No Image Available

0.0

Son of Torum

Feb 5, 1989

In the same vein as Meri's other documentations, this one takes advantage of the glasnost policy to discuss the social and ecologic impact of the Russian oil industry on the natives and the lands they inhabit.

2.0

Temples of India

Feb 5, 1938

Hindu temples at Benares and Belur and the mythologies associated with them.

The Real Thing

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

The Real Thing Trailers