On the occasion of the 10th Beirut Art Film Festival – BAFF, and as part of the section dedicated to Italy, the Italian Cultural Institute is pleased to announce the screening of the documentary film Green over Gray: Emilio Ambasz. (Italy, 2023, 56 minutes), directed by Francesca Molteni & Mattia Colombo, original version with English subtitles. The screening will be followed by a discussion with director Francesca Molteni, in English and via Zoom. George Arbid, architect and director of the Arab Center for Architecture, will ask her some questions about the film.
Directed by Francesca Molteni and Mattia Colombo, Green Over Gray offers an excursion through the life and work of Argentine architect and designer Emilio Ambasz (born in Resistencia, 1943). Although he was influential in all the fields he touched, Ambasz is now recognized as an early advocate of green architecture and an ecological approach to architecture, as well as a true pioneer in the climate impact debate. The documentary explores the green architecture revolution through his groundbreaking projects and offers an in-depth analysis of them, shedding light on four buildings he designed from the 1970s to the 2000s (one for each decade): the Casa de Retiro Espiritual, built in 1975; the Lucille Halsell Conservatory of the San Antonio Botanical Garden, built in 1982; the 1990 ACROS building; and the 2008 Angel Hospital. The film illustrates how, over forty years, Ambasz helped redefine the relationship between humans and the environment, predicting a vision of nature as the pivot of historic change. Through exclusive interviews with famous names such as Tadao Ando, Kengo Kuma and others, the documentary emphasizes the importance of an emotionally resonant architecture capable of improving daily life and addressing urban and climate challenges.
Francesca Molteni, a graduate in Philosophy, is a curator, director and author of films and documentaries. In 2009 she founded Muse Factory of Projects, with the aim of connecting creativity, culture and business. She collaborates with leading Made in Italy companies and with the magazines Vogue and Casa Vogue, Elle Decor, La Repubblica and Il Domenicale del Sole24Ore. In 2017 she produced SuperDesign, a film on Italian Radical Design, and in 2018 she conceived and directed the film NEWMUSEUM(S) for Museimpresa. She is the author of the book “Icone d’impresa,” Carocci 2016, and the exhibition “50+! The Great Game of Industry.” She has received the Premio dei Premi per l’Innovazione of the Presidency of the Italian Republic, the Honorable Mention of the Compasso d’Oro, and the Cathay Pacific Women’s Entrepreneurship Award. Among the latest films she has directed are The Power of the Archive. Renzo Piano Building Workshop (2018), NEWMUSEUM(S). Stories of Corporate Archives and Museums (2019), Aldo Rossi Design (2022) and Green Over Gray. Emilio Ambasz (2023).
Mattia Colombo, born in 1982, is a director, screenwriter, photographer and editor. His first short documentary film, Il Velo, was in competition at Vision du Réel; EIFF Edinburgh International Film Festival; AFI Silverdocs Discovery; Dialektus Film Festival; XI Circuito Off (Venice) where it won two awards. The documentary Alberi che camminano, written with Erri De Luca, has participated in numerous international festivals. Voglio dormire con te, an Italian-French production with the support of the Lombardy Film Commission and the CNC, was selected to participate in several festivals including Cinéma du Réel 2015. Il passo, written and directed with Alessandra Locatelli and Francesco Ferri, was presented at Visions du Réel (Nyon) and as a special event at the Filmmaker Festival in Milan. He directed Ritmo Sbilenco, a documentary about the Italian band Elio e le Storie Tese. Uninvited, a biopic about Marcelo Burlon, fashion designer and outsider DJ, was released in theaters in 2017. Mattia directed B Heroes, produced by YAM112003 for SKY UNO and SKY DOCUMENTARIES, and is working with Valentina Cicogna on Sconosciuti Puri, a documentary film about the activities of Labanof, a laboratory founded by forensic scientist Cristina Cattaneo that deals with the identification of the “unnamed dead.” In 2021 he wrote and directed, together with Beniamino Barrese, the short film White Noise, a Muse Factory of Projects production for Molteni & C.