Make sure to save the dates 24th – 26th of June because Cinema Jove, at the LABA Valencia School, is bringing you a host of great screenings as part of the celebration of Valencia World Design Capital! This will include a special cycle of six documentaries.

 These include the world premiere of the Valencian film ‘Tipos que importan’ and the Spanish presentation of several feature films: ‘Mau’, a film that reviews the career of the visionary Canadian designer Bruce Mau; ‘Mud Frontier’, which deals with a project to reinterpret traditional adobe architecture in the southwest of the United States, and ‘Monoblanc’, the curious story of one of the best-selling chairs in the world.

Interesting futuristic topics will be addressed such as the role of robots in our imminent future and the colonization of emojis in everyday language.

 ‘Mau’ (2022) is the first feature-length documentary to focus on the figure of the visionary Canadian creator Bruce Mau. The film, created by Benji and Jono Bergmann, explores the incredible life and professional career of Mau, who was convinced of the ability of design to transform the world.  Through his work he has demonstrated that design has the potential to solve the world’s most complex problems.

 ‘Mud Frontier’ (Chris J. Gautier, 2022), is a documentary focusing on the interesting work being carried out by architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello in the southwestern United States. The project uses 3D printing technology to build adobe structures on the ancestral land of the San Luis Valley, which has an interesting history as communities who have settled there have been in harmony and conflict since the 16th century.

 Ever wondered why at every bbq or garden party you are guaranteed to find a basic plastic chair, this chair is called the ‘Monobloc’ and it is the best selling piece of furniture in the world! (Hauks Wendler, 2021) tells the story of why and how such a basic chair was purchased all over the world.

 To follow on to more futuristic interesting topics, ‘Hi, A.I. – Robots, the love stories of the future (Isa Willinger, 2019) asks the audience : Are we ready to introduce artificial intelligence into our lives? I looks at how living with androids will affect our everyday existence almost imminently.

 ‘Picture Character. An emoji story’ (Martha Shane, Ian Cheney, 2019), is an American documentary that analyses the phenomenon of emojis and how this emerging digital language has colonised the way we communicate.

 Tipos que importan’ (Miguel Maestro, 2022), which is being presented as a world premiere, is a short documentary that brings together different design professionals to compose a collective story about the city of Valencia based on the analysis of the signage developed from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day.

Zona Santiago, libre para jugar‘ (Cris Centeno, 2022) follows the process of transforming a plot of land into a play area for pupils of the Santiago Apóstol school, in El Cabanyal. The film documents a pioneering collaborative project called ‘Un pati per a totes’ (A playground for everyone), which aims to involve members of the educational community and also users and mental health professionals in creating a safe, egalitarian and welcoming space for children.

Report by Emma Rowland

Article copyright ’24/7 Valencia’

More info: https://www.cinemajove.com/