Architecton

2024 documentary film

Architecton

German theatrical release poster

Directed by| Viktor Kossakovsky
Written by| Viktor Kossakovsky
Produced by|

* Heino Deckert
* Charlotte Hailstone

Cinematography| Ben Bernhard
Edited by|

* Viktor Kossakovsky
* Ainara Vera

Music by| Evgueni Galperine

Production
companies

* A24
* ma.ja.de Filmproduktions-GmbH
* Point du Jour International
* Les films du Balibari
* Hailstone Films

Distributed by|

* Neue Visionen Filmverleih (Germany)
* A24 (United States)

Release dates

* 19 February 2024 (2024-02-19) (Berlinale)
* 3 October 2024 (2024-10-03) (Germany)
* 1 August 2025 (2025-08-01) (United States)

Running time

| 98 minutes[1]
Countries|

* Germany
* France
* United States

Languages|

* Italian
* English

Box office| $264,856[2][3]

Architecton is a 2024 documentary film written and directed by Viktor Kossakovsky about the ways that stone and concrete architecture express the values of societies.[4]

The film had its world premiere in the main competition of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival on 19 February 2024,[5] where it was nominated for the Golden Bear and the Berlinale Documentary Film Award.[6] It was released on 3 October 2024 in Germany by Neuer Visionen, and was released in the United States on 1 August 2025 by A24.

## Content

[edit]

Kossakovsky presents a poetic meditation on architecture and how the design and construction of buildings from the ancient past reveal our destruction – and offer hope for survival and a way forward. He reflects on the rise and fall of civilizations while focusing on a landscape project by the Italian architect Michele De Lucchi, using imagery from the temple ruins of Baalbek in Lebanon, dating back to AD 60, to the recent destruction of cities in Turkey following a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in early 2023.

## Production

[edit]

Architecton was filmed in a schedule of 60 days.[7] It is produced by the German company Ma.ja.de. with the French Point du Jour International and Les films du Balibari in collaboration with A24 and Hailstone Films. ZDF and Arte co-produced the film.[8]

## Release

[edit]

Architecton had its world premiere on 19 February 2024, as part of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, in Competition.[9][10] The Cologne-based sales agent The Match Factory secured international sales rights to the film before its Berlinale premiere.[11][12]

The film had its first screening at CPH:DOX on 18 March 2024 in Artists & Auteurs section.[13] The film was also screened at the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival on 3 April 2024 in Firebird Awards Documentary competition.[14][15] It was screened at Lichter Filmfest Frankfurt International, Frankfurt on 19 April 2024.[16] The film was also presented in the International Documentaries section of the 71st Sydney Film Festival on June 6, 2024.[17] The film was also screened in 'Horizons' at the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on 28 June 2024.[18][19] It was presented in 'Strands: Thrill' section of the 2024 BFI London Film Festival on 19 October 2024.[20] It was showcased in 'Best of 2024' section of the 19th Rome Film Festival in October 2024.[21] It was also showcased in the official selection out of competition at the Luxembourg City Film Festival on 12 March 2025.[22][23]

It was theatrically released in Germany on 3 October 2024 by Neuer Visionen, and was released in the United States on 1 August 2025.[24]

## Reception

[edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 94% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10.[25]

Jordan Mintzer reviewing the film for The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it as "Solid as a rock," and opined, "The director’s latest work, Architecton, is more about death than life, capturing the natural and manmade structures formed out of the planet’s bedrock and manipulated over time, destroyed quickly or gradually and then built anew." Mintzer praised the drone photography writing, "If there were ever an Oscar handed out for drone photography, Architecton would win it hands down this year." Giving positive review Mintzer concluded, "At a time when most documentaries, especially those made for streaming services, consist of little to no visual invention, the director has invented and finessed a cinematic language that says more about the world we live in than all the talking heads in all the Netflix docs combined."[26]

Guy Lodge writing in Variety gave positive review and said, "There is no escaping our own mastery, our own determination of what is beautiful and useful, a man-made work that is very much both of those things, Architecton frustratedly awaits a new world order, or at least a new blueprint."[27]

Lee Marshall wrote in ScreenDaily while reviewing the film at Berlinale, "Even before the opening credits have finished rolling, Architecton impresses."[28]

Nicholas Bell in Ion Cinema rated the film with three and half stars and said, "As we drift through the ruins of the past, a portrait emerges juxtaposing the inherent differences regarding the materials and designs of the present."[29]

Reviewing in Polyester, Gregory Coutaut rated the film with 5/6 and wrote, "Architecton takes off from simple capture to give life to a fantastic universe, close to post-apocalyptic science fiction."[30]

Damon Wise for Deadline felt, "This fascinating, engrossing film interrogates the subtext of this seemingly paradoxical statement." He observed, "Such a concept isn’t all that new, but Kossakovsky’s fascinating, magnetic film essay does help us to reassess what we’ve lost over the centuries." Concluding Wise opined, "Architecton verbalizes something we are all thinking in the modern age of war and climate change: what will we leave behind, and what will it say about us to future generations?"[31]

## Accolades

[edit]

The film was selected in Competition at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, thus it was nominated to compete for Golden Bear award.

Award  | Date  | Category  | Recipient  | Result  | Ref.

|
|
|
|
|

Berlin International Film Festival | 25 February 2024 | Golden Bear | Architecton | Nominated  | [32]
Berlinale Documentary Film Award  | Nominated  | [6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Architecton (U)". British Board of Film Classification. 4 December 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
2. ^ "Architecton". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
3. ^ "Architecton". The Numbers. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
4. ^ "Architecton". Ma.ja.de. Filmproduktions. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
5. ^ Abbatescianni, Davide (22 January 2024). "The Berlinale unveils its Competition and Encounters titles". Cineuropa. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
6. ^ a b "Berlinale Documentary Award and Jury". Berlinale. 1 February 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
7. ^ "Architecton: Documentary Feature – 2022-2024, Architecture, Docu – France, Germany". Crew United. 14 December 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
8. ^ "Architecton, Deutschland Frankreich 2022-2024 Dokumentarfilm" [Architecton: Germany France 2022-2024 Documentary]. filmportal.de (in German). Retrieved 3 February 2024.
9. ^ Ntim, Zac (22 January 2024). "Berlin Reveals 2024 Competition Lineup: Rooney Mara, Mati Diop, Isabelle Huppert, Abderrahmane Sissako Movies Among Selection". Deadline. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
10. ^ "Architecton". Berlinale. 6 February 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
11. ^ Goodfellow, Melanie (31 January 2024). "The Match Factory Boards Victor Kossakovsky's A24-Backed Berlinale Doc 'Architecton'". Deadline. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
12. ^ Leo Barraclough (31 January 2024). "The Match Factory Boards Victor Kossakovsky's 'Architecton' Ahead of Berlinale Premiere, A24 to Release in North America". Variety. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
13. ^ "Architecton: Victor Kosakovskiy / Germany, France & United States / 2024 / 94 min". CPH:DOX. 23 February 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
14. ^ Patrick Frater (8 March 2024). "Hong Kong Film Festival to Open With Ray Yeung's 'All Shall Be Well,' Close With Japanese Charmer 'All the Long Nights'". Variety. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
15. ^ "Architecton". HKIFF. 6 March 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
16. ^ "Architecton". Lichter Filmfest. 19 April 2024. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
17. ^ "Architecton". Sydney Film Festival Festival. 6 June 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
18. ^ "Catalogue of Films – Horizons". The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. 28 June 2024. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
19. ^ Kudlac, Martin (14 June 2024). "Karlovy Vary unveils the full line-up for its 58th edition". Cineuropa. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
20. ^ Ntim, Zac (4 September 2024). "BFI London Film Festival Lineup: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin To Debut 'Endurance', Baker, Heller, Berger & Abbasi's Trump Movie Among Headline Galas — Full List". Deadline. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
21. ^ "Films of the 2024 Film Fest". Cinema Foundation for Rome. 20 September 2024. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
22. ^ "Architecton". Luxembourg City Film Festival. 13 February 2025. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
23. ^ Tómas Atli Einarsson (12 February 2025). "Luxembourg City Film Festival returns for 15th edition". Luxembourg Times. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
24. ^ Bergeson, Samantha (5 June 2025). "'Architecton' Trailer: Victor Kossakovsky Charts the History of Concrete in A24 Documentary". IndieWire. Retrieved 5 June 2025.
25. ^ "Architecton". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
26. ^ Jordan Mintzer (19 February 2024). "Architecton' Review: From the Director of 'Gunda,' a Visually Mesmerizing Meditation on the Bedrock of Existence". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
27. ^ Guy Lodge (19 February 2024). "'Architecton' Review: Victor Kossakovsky's Mesmerizing Documentary on What We Take From the Earth to Build Upon It". Variety. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
28. ^ Marshall, Lee (19 February 2024). "Architecton': Berlin Review". ScreenDaily. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
29. ^ Nicholas Bell (20 February 2024). "Judgment in Stone: Kossakovsky Gazes Into the Concrete Jungle". Ion Cinema. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
30. ^ Gregory Coutaut (22 February 2024). "Berlinale | Critique : Architecton" [Berlinale | Review: Architecton]. Polyester (in French). WordPress. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
31. ^ Wise, Damon (23 February 2024). "'Architecton' Review: Victor Kossakovsky's Magnetic Film Essay Reflects On Man's Relationship With Nature – Berlin Film Festival". Deadline. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
32. ^ Rosser, Michael (22 January 2024). "Berlin film festival reveals 2024 competition line-up". ScreenDaily. Retrieved 2 February 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Architecton at IMDb
* Architecton at Rotten Tomatoes
* Architecton at Filmstarts
* Architecton at Berlinale

*[Ref.]: Reference(s)