For the first time STIR takes acclaimed Architecture & Design Film Festival from New York to Mumbai for a four-day programme at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA). ADFF: STIR Mumbai is the festival’s South Asian debut and features more than 20 international film screenings, over 30 talks, 10 Pavilions , interactive installations and a cinematic ‘Pavilion Park’. ADFF: STIR Mumbai runs from 10th to 12th January 2025 at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai.
ADFF:STIR Mumbai foregrounds diverse stories and perspectives that celebrate the multiple worlds occupied by architecture and design, and looks at intersections with the cinematic lens. The Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF) was launched in New York 16 years ago and for the first time debuts in South Asia with the inaugural festival in Mumbai, a thriving centre for Indian cinema and heritage. ADFF:STIR Mumbai focusses on the storytelling mediums of architecture, cinema and design and aims to nurture cross-cultural dialogue and engage with the wider public.
Many of the films being screened during ADFF: STIR will be shown for the first time, and the programme includes cinematic celebrations of seminal architects, designers and design movements including; Modernism Inc.: The Eliot Noyes Design Story, El Seed’s Perception, This is Not A House, Charlotte Perriand, Pionnière de l’art de Vivre and Regular or Super: Views on Mies van der Rohe.
ADFF:STIR Mumbai is presented by STIR alongside Kyle Bergman, Director and Founder, ADFF, and in the company of Martino Stierli, Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
“At STIR, the goal has always been to underscore the interdependent nature of the creative fields across visual culture, performance arts, design and architecture. Architecture is influenced by and influences other disciplines, and among them, film is a prime example. Offering a setting for telling stories and by itself being a storytelling medium, architecture is intrinsically connected to the cinematic realm. Both architecture and film shape our conscious and social collective and in turn fuel cultural discourse. Conduits such as the ADFF:STIR festival merely bring this fundamental relationship to the fore, nurturing the interconnections between the two, offering fodder for the intellect as well as our imagination.”
Amit Gupta, Festival Director & Founder and Editor-in-Chief, STIR
ADFF:STIR Mumbai is the first cross-disciplinary peek into the creative fields in an inclusive format designed to create tangible intersections and engagement with creatives and enthusiasts alike. The festival transforms the iconic NCPA into a vibrant hub to hold these multiple worlds, allowing visitors novel avenues to engage with architecture and design through the lens of cinema.
ADFF:STIR Mumbai was only made possible by months of planning alongside Bergman and through the collective conviction of practitioners, professionals, students, and aficionados bringing together the best of design, innovation, dialogue and radical positions of thinking about our built environment.
Renowned architects and designers will present their response to a curatorial brief—Frame of Reference—through site-specific installations at the Pavilion Park. Presented by JSW, the park and the works on display are poised to transport visitors into different realms, much like entering the world of a film. Additionally, a meticulously curated public programme is set to facilitate wider perspectives and intimate encounters through book readings, crits, performances, workshops and a talks schedule in a novel format, ~log(ue). Through the medium of the festival and by delving into the dynamic realm of the cinematic, STIR positions itself as a driver of much-needed interdisciplinary contamination in cultural discourse in the industry.
Special Projects
Expanding the curatorial dimension of the event, STIR brings various special projects into the equation, ensuring a packed weekend for everyone to enjoy. Originally commissioned by RIBA in London and supported in Mumbai by the British Council, The Architect has Left the Building by architectural photographer and filmmaker, Jim Stephenson, is a vital part of the programme. The project, a film installation by Stephenson, Simon James and and Sofia Smith, questions how architecture is used and its spaces occupied after the architect leaves and the publicity shots are done. Apart from the exhibition, Stephenson along with James will invite local photographers and filmmakers in the city to build on the narrative of his original exhibition, creating their own scenes that will be included in a remixed version of the original project. Also in the fold is a special collaboration between New York-based architect Suchi Reddy and Asian Paints, Chromacosm, celebrating the launch of the world’s largest paint colour library by the multinational giant. The project will see a constellation of over 2000 colours come together and simultaneously fade to black through a ‘forest of reeds’, elevating the two-dimensionality of screen pixels and paints into an immersive, three-dimensional experience.
Platforming a diverse array of stories from around the world, not only about how architecture and design are produced but also how they are instrumental in the way we conduct our lives, ADFF:STIR Mumbai promises to be a sensorial extravaganza and will open up avenues to expand the creative community and economy in the region and beyond.
About The Architecture & Design Film Festival, NY
Founded in 2009, the Architecture & Design Film Festival celebrates the creative spirit that drives architecture and design. Through a curated selection of films, events, and panel discussions, ADFF creates an opportunity to educate, entertain, and engage all types of people who are excited about architecture and design. It has grown into the world’s largest film festival devoted to the subject with an annual festival in New York and satellite events around the world. For more information go to: https://adfilmfest.com.
About STIR
STIR is a global media house and curatorial agency committed to STIRring creative minds, from architecture, design, and new media arts. 2019 marked the birth of STIRworld.com, aglobal digital magazine that publishes daily thought-provoking content contributed by writers from all over the world—ranging from critical case studies, opinion pieces and columns, to original editorial series. In 2021, STIR launched STIRpad.com—a destination for designers, galleries, and brands to share new collections, collaborations, exhibitions and announcements. Driven by its motto to constantly #thinkNEXT, the publication pushes the boundaries of creative discourse. As a curatorial agency, STIR is committed to fostering creativity and supporting the champions of the next through its various IPs and collaborative projects around the globe.
Visit the ADFF:STIR Mumbai website for more information, ticket releases, detailed programme and other updates on the festival.
