film

Torre David

Venezuela/Switzerland, 2013
24 min, Spanish

Torre David, a 45-story office tower in Caracas, was almost complete when it was abandoned following the death of its developer and a national banking crisis that crippled the Venezuelan economy in 1994. Neglected for over a decade, in 2007 it became the improvised home for a community of over 800 families living in an extra-legal and tenuous occupation that many called a vertical slum.

This short documentary reveals what life was like for residents several years prior to the government’s eviction in 2014. Filmed as part of larger project by the interdisciplinary design team, Urban-Think Tank, the movie was part of a larger research and design project that resulted in a book and numerous exhibitions, including the Golden-Lion-winning exhibition at the 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture.

Festival and Theatrical Screenings

2015
Dok.Arts Film Festival, Berlin, DE
Metropolis Kino, Hamburg, DE
Swissnex Sanfransisco, San Fransisco, USA
reSITE Festival, Prague, CZ
Focus Filmtheater, Arnhem, NL

2014
Barbican Summer Film Series, London, EN
DOXA, Toronto, CA
New Orleans Film Festival, New Orleans, USA
Belgradescapes, Belgrade SR
Social Justice Film Festival, Seattle, USA
Boka Architecture Film Festival, Kotor, ME
Sustainable Living Film Festival, Istanbul, TR
Grenchen Wohntage, Grenchen, CH
Prishtina Architecture Festival, Prishtina, KV
Milano Design Film Festival, Milan, IT

2013
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, NL (Int’l Premiere)
Urban Eye Film Festival, Bucharest RO
Budapest Architecture Film Festival, Budapest, HU
Arquitectura Film Festival Santiago
Lichter Film Fest, Frankfurt, DE

Gallery and Museum Screenings:

Venice Biennale of Architecture, IT, 2012
Museum of Art and Design, NYC, 2014
Fotomuseum of Winterthur, CH, 2013
Aedes Gallery, Berlin, DE, 2013
Coalmine Gallery, CH, 2013
Torre Hofpoort, Rotterdam, NL, 2015
Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund, DE, 2013
Baden Baden Kunsthalle, DE, 2013
Trienal de Lisboa, PT, 2013

Academic Collections:

Princeton University
University of Pennsylvania
Maastricht University
Lehigh University