Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam

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Rotterdam
Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam

AFFR explores the relationship between film, cities and architecture. 16th edition> 8–12 October 2025

AFFR explores the relationship between film, cities and architecture by programming and screening architecture films and by organizing introductions and debates. Architecture films investigate the meaning of the city and architecture. They portray cities, buildings and their designers, show that architecture cannot be understood without its context, and investigate the role of the city in our ever

yday lives. Moreover, they frequently reveal architects and urbanists to be powerless gods whose works, once built, acquire very different meanings and functions to those envisaged. AFFR screens documentaries and feature films from at home and abroad that address these subjects. They are complemented by introductions, discussions and debates about the present, past and future of architecture and urbanism. Since 2000, AFFR has grown to become a leading film festival for architects, city lovers, film buffs and students. The festival connects a wide audience with new and existing places in the city, thereby enhancing the status of Rotterdam as a city of architecture.

21/07/2026

Looking back at AFFR Year Round 2026!

Over the past six months, AFFR has continued to expand its year-round programme, reaching broader, younger and more international audiences for our festival.

Take one more look at some of our favourite moments in the recap below:

Slides 1, 2, 3 - Screenings of popular films such as Sofia Coppola’s iconic Lost in Translation during Rotterdamse Dakendagen and the Dutch premiere of Josh O'Connor's latest film, Rebuilding, during Sprouts Film Festival with an introduction by AFFR film programmer Inez de Coo.

📸: Aad Hoogendoorn + Elena Lorenzi

Slides 4, 5, 6 - Special activities for children such as the Architecture Sector Day organised by JINC and AIR - Architectuur Instituut Rotterdam and a matinee screening of Pixar’s Oscar-winning animated film WALL·E during Rotterdam Architectuur Maand

Slides 7, 8, 9 - AFFR entered international collaborations with leading cultural institute Liwan in Doha, Qatar, the Utopian Hours city-makers conference in Turin and Rotterdam, and Phoenix Cinema during the London Festival of Architecture

📸: Eyerisshots

18/06/2026

Could you build your home with dozens of other people?

With no prior experience?

With no ready-made blueprint?

It can be done.

Meet > Wooncoöperatie De Warren
Amsterdam’s first completed self-build housing cooperative!

After its screening at AFFR, Living Together: The Story of De Warren is now heading to London as part of AFFR’s collaboration with the London Festival of Architecture and Phoenix Cinema.

They started as just a group of future residents.
Determined to create a different way of living together.

Living Together: The Story of De Warren follows this collective as they navigate the financing, design, and construction of their own residential building.

An inspiring story about cooperation, perseverance, and collective ambition, beautiful captured by Sam van Zoest.

But also an honest look at the challenges, compromises, and personal sacrifices that come with turning an ambitious idea into a place to call home.

WHEN x WHERE
Sunday 21 June | 17:30
Phoenix Cinema, London

16/06/2026

Reminder: What would the future look like without circularity?

WALL-E gives us a possible answer >
a planet buried beneath endless towers of waste.

On Sunday, 21 June, AFFR and Rotterdam Architectuur Maand bring Pixar’s Oscar-winning animation classic back to the big screen!

Set in the year 2805, Wall-E follows the last clean-up robot left on an abandoned Earth, endlessly sorting through humanity’s waste. Among the debris, he carefully preserves small traces of human life and culture until the ultra-modern robot EVE arrives and changes everything.

What starts as a children’s film slowly unfolds into something much bigger.

A story about
> redemption,
> humanity’s consumerist drive,
> dependence on technology,
> and waste management.

An ultimate manifesto for the circular city!

But, ofcourse.

WALL-E is also a film that leaves you with a smile and a sense of hope.

Young or old, and anything in between, this is one to experience on the big screen!

WHEN x WHERE
Sunday 21 June | 14:00
Keilepand M4H, Rotterdam

19/05/2026

AFFR x Rotterdam Rooftop Days: Lost in Translation

Beginning next month, AFFR and present ’s iconic work: Lost in Translation.

And what better setting for this film than Rotterdam’s skyline?

Better yet, the screening takes place on top of P-garage Mobypark, in one of Rotterdam’s rawest areas!

If you need a little reminder, follows two deeply lonely people, played by & , who meet for a brief but unforgettable moment in the immense and chaotic city of Tokyo.

This connection, however fleeting, makes all the difference.

More than twenty years after its release, Coppola’s tragicomic classic still resonates with anyone who has ever felt lost amidst skyscrapers and neon lights.

Plus.

We’ll also show Another Day of Depression in Kowloon by Yuk-Yiu Ip. A short set in a rainy, mysterious Hong Kong, made with images from Call of Duty! Swipe to the last image for an impression.

One night only, don’t miss it!

WHEN x WHERE
Saturday 06 June, starting 21:30
Location: P-garage Mobypark Delftsestraat, Rotterdam
Entrance via Poortstraat

Please note: the location is accessible via stairs.

Ticket sales have already started!

Visit the Rotterdam Rooftop Days website to get yours.
See AFFR’s link in bio if you need a direct link.

11/05/2026

AFFR x Utopian Hours 2026 is here!

What happens when
> filmmakers
> architects
> urban planners
> and city makers

come together for two days in Rotterdam, inside the iconic ?

They share experiences.
They exchange ideas.

Stimulating new visions and reflections on urban evolution!

Meaning:
2026 Rotterdam edition is here!
Stratosferica’s international festival of city making.
And AFFR is joining the programme!

Following our collaboration during the previous edition in Turin, we’re excited to bring a new selection of shorts and documentaries for the festival’s 10th anniversary.

We have two curated film programmes lined up, exploring questions shaping our cities today.

Day one | Thu 28 May - Stories of Rising Water
14:30 | Studio, 7th floor, GHG

How do we live with rising water in an increasingly unpredictable climate?

The films in this programme expose the growing impact of flooding, displacement for communities, and new ways of designing with water. (Made possible by / )

Featuring:
• Belle River
• Washed Away
• Aurora – The Street That Wanted to Be a River
• Building Visions

Day two | Fri 29 May - Unsafe by Design
14:30 | Studio, 7th floor, GHG

From city streets, to nightclubs and collective housing, the shorts in this program expose and question the politics embedded in design. Can urban spaces become places of exclusion and vulnerability, but also spaces of emancipation and resistance?

Featuring:
• Once Upon Three Femisites
• 4.6 KM
• Movement
• The Southern Thruway

Documentaries, experimental shorts, conversations and new perspectives on the future of the city.

Interested in joining?

Find the full programme and festival passes via the Utopian Hours website. (Direct link also in AFFRs bio)

Images: courtesy Utopian Hours

01/05/2026

“Like Big Brother, but in the house of the Auschwitz camp commander.”

Two years ago, we hosted a special screening of , Jonathan Glazer’s cinematic masterpiece.

What made this evening stand out was the contribution of production designer Chris Oddy, who took us behind the scenes and revealed how the film’s unsettling atmosphere was built.

During AFFR 2024, Oddy spoke with none other than Gerhard Busch of , sitting down for an in-depth interview.

That conversation was published this week!
Both online and in print, check the link in bio if you’re interested.

In the interview, Oddy shares how he meticulously reconstructed the interiors and garden of the home of Auschwitz camp commander Rudolf Höss and his family, creating a setting that feels disturbingly real.

But the director and crew took it even further.

Hidden cameras were placed throughout the house to observe actors Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel as they moved through their characters’ daily routines.

“The daily life of the Höss family, looking dangerously like our own.”

The Zone of Interest won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and is widely regarded as one of the most important films of the year.

And you can watch it THIS weekend.

It will be screened on , Sunday, 3 May from 23:35 to 01:20.

A haunting illustration of the banality of evil, showing how it exists not only in horrific acts but also in the act of looking away.

An unsettling and absolutely must-see!

Chris Oddy’s masterclass was part of our Master’s series, in conversation with , editor-in-chief of NOOK, the magazine of .interieurarchitecten.

Event photography by

30/04/2026

Deadline for 2026 is coming up!

Have you been thinking about applying?
Consider this your nudge!

We are looking for filmmakers, architects, artists and researchers who want to explore a film idea they cannot, or do not want to, bring to life on their own.

No polished concept needed.
Just bring a question worth investigating.
Along with your curiosity and commitment.

That’s all!

You will develop your own essay film through research sessions, one-to-one mentorship, and a Summer School in Georgia.

And then your film premieres at AFFR 2026 in Rotterdam!

Application deadline > May 5

What do you need to do?
Send us a short video in English to introduce yourself and your idea, along with a written topic proposal.

Find all details and apply via the link in AFFRs bio.

Good luck!

Connected partners: .eu, , .com.ua, .ngo, .nu_ and

28/04/2026

Call for entries deadline approaching

We are looking for fresh, thoughtful, and boundary-pushing films that explore how architecture, cities, and society come together on screen.

We welcome submissions in all formats and genres, as long as there is a clear connection to the built environment.

Got something that fits?
Send it in!

The deadline for the Call for Entries is 2 May 2026.

Your work will be in good hands and screened at the world’s leading film festival dedicated to film, architecture, and the city.

When? AFFR26 takes place from 7 to 11 October 2026. (The immersive media exhibition continues at Nieuwe Instituut until 25 October.)

And come October, you will be among other filmmakers, designers, architects, and an engaged audience exploring the social, political, and cultural dimensions of the built environment through cinema.

You might even find yourself discussing your work with them :D

Visit our website (link in bio) for all details & how to submit.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at [email protected].

20/04/2026

To all Architecture students at TU Delft, this one is for you!

Planning to go to the faculty tomorrow? Good.
Not going? You might want to reconsider.

We have quite the quintessential architecture story for you.

At 18:30, BK hosts a special screening of La Grande Arche, the same film that opened AFFR 2025.

NRC awarded it four stars, de Volkskrant gave it three, plus it was selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2025!

That should tell you enough.
But it gets better.

Kees Kaan of , Manuela Triggianese of .tudelft, and our own Cristina Ampatzidou, Head of Programme, will open the evening with an introduction. Reflecting on the architectural ideas in the film.

VPRO critic Gerhard Busch writes: “In Stéphane Demoustiers’ comical French drama, we follow the stubborn and perfectionist Von Spreckelsen, brilliantly played by , as he arrives in Paris to realise his bold idea. He soon runs into bureaucracy, interference, and the famously feared French way of doing things.” (Freely translated.)

GOOD TO KNOW
Tuesday 21 April
Starting 18:30
BK, Room B, TU Delft
Tickets cost €5

Please note that this screening is ONLY open to Architecture students TU Delft.

The film is part of the .complexprojects Film Series, and seats are limited.

Register via the link in our bio.

#

17/04/2026

We’re looking for filmmakers, architects, artists, and researchers ready to create something they can’t create alone.

is an international essay film course connecting organizations from Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, and the Netherlands.

Selected participants will develop original essay films through online research sessions, one-to-one mentorship, and an in-person Summer School in Georgia, premiering at the AFFR this October.

You don’t need a finished idea.
You need a question worth investigating.

What we’re asking for:
A short video introducing yourself and your idea in English, a written topic proposal, and a commitment to the full programme.

Key dates:
→ Application deadline: May 5
→ Summer School in Georgia: September 2–6
→ Premiere at AFFR Rotterdam: October 8–9

Good to know:
All sessions are mandatory.
The working language is English.
Travel stipends available.

Ready to apply?
Head to the link in AFFR’s bio to learn more.

Connected partners: .eu, , .com.ua, .ngo, .nu_ and

Adres

Rotterdam

Website

http://www.affr.nl/

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