"I AM AN ARCHITECT.
I BREAK WALLS !"

Lina Bo Bardi was one of the leaders of the Brazilian 'paulista' modernist movement together with João Batista Vilanova Artigas and Paulo Mendes da Rocha. In 2021, she was awarded the Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in memoriam of the 17^th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.

« Her career as a designer, editor, curator, and activist reminds us of the role of the architect as convener and importantly, as the builder of collective visions. Lina Bo Bardi also exemplifies the perseverance of the architect in difficult times whether wars, political strife, or immigration, and her ability to remain creative, generous, and optimistic throughout.
Above all, it is her powerful buildings that stand out in their design and in the way that they bring architecture, nature, living, and community together. In her hands, architecture becomes truly a convening social art.
The Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement is a long overdue recognition for an illustrious career straddling between Italy and Brazil, for re-enlivening the role of the architect as an enabler of society, and for a woman who simply represents the architect at her best. »
(Hashim Sarkis, curator of the Biennale Architettura 2021)

Told in a series of interviews in Portuguese with English subtitles on the eye of her 100th birthday, Bo Bardi’s colleagues and friends recount the sociopolitical constraints and personal events that would lead to the timelessness of her work.

This cinematic journey through her most important architectural projects in São Paulo and Salvador da Bahia poses the question of what remains of a person in the work they leave behind.

• Director & Producer : Belinda Rukschcio | Director of Photography : Benjamin Paya
• Documentary (53') | 2013 | Austria/Germany
• Language : Portuguese | English subtitled
• Shot on location : Brazil

This screening is organised within the framework of the exhibition 'Vilanova Artigas. Drawing Models'.