Largest Festival of Its Kind Explores Architecture, Design, and Community Through Films on Placemaking, Sustainability, and Cultural Legacy
The Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF) has concluded its New York and Los Angeles editions, where audiences gathered for world and U.S. premieres, talkbacks, and interactive programs examining design, identity, and place. Following these presentations, the festival’s 17th season continues to Vancouver, Toronto, Mumbai, New Canaan, and Chicago, extending its reach across North America and the world.
As the largest film festival dedicated to architecture and design, ADFF offers attendees an opportunity to experience the power of personal stories and broader histories at the intersection of the built environment, culture, and community. This year’s edition features a dynamic lineup highlighting urgent issues such as sustainability, housing, the future of our cities, and artistic legacy.
“ADFF was created to bring a wide range of people together to celebrate the creative and social impact of architecture and design through film,” said Kyle Bergman, Founder and Festival Director of the Architecture & Design Film Festival. “As the festival continues to grow, returning to cities like New York and Los Angeles where it has a long history, and expanding to new locations, we consistently see how ADFF inspires dialogue and ideas, not only among architects and designers but also general audiences who discover the way design informs everything.”
In New York, the festival opened at the historic Village East by Angelika with the U.S. premiere of Identity: A Czech Graphic Design Love Story. The screening was followed by a discussion between Debbie Millman, designer and host of the Design Matters podcast, and Nicholas Lowry, President of Swann Auction Galleries and the film’s narrator. Over five days, ADFF:NY featured sold-out screenings of world and U.S. premieres and post-screening discussions featuring Michael Kimmelman, Janette Sadik-Khan, and Deborah Berke, among others. The festival also debuted its first-ever Big Brutal Quiz, an interactive trivia night led by architect and filmmaker Jord den Hollander, where participants matched iconic brutalist buildings to their cinematic cameos.
In Los Angeles, ADFF brought its signature programming to the Culver Theater, where a highlight of the festival was a post-screening discussion of The Space Architect featuring filmmaker Rebecca Carpenter, Frances Anderton, and Winka Dubbeldam, who together examined the visionary career of Constance Adams.
Continuing its 17th season run, ADFF invites audiences to engage with the ideas, people, and stories that define architecture and design today. Each city’s edition offers new opportunities to experience films and conversations within the context of its own design community.
Further information about films and special programming is available at adfilmfest.com.
ADFF’s 2025/26 Season Films
- At the Garden’s Pace
- Building on the Edge
- Changing Lanes
- Identity: A Czech Graphic Design Love Story
- Kensington Market: Heart of the City
- Lewerentz Divine Darkness
- Living in a Piece of Furniture – Gerrit Rietveld’s Houses
- Miralles
- Prickly Mountain: My Design/Build Life
- Søhren Pihlmann: Make Materials Matter
- The Big Brutal Quiz
- The Space Architect
- Tracing Light
- We The Others
ADFF’s 2025/26 Season Schedule
- ADFF:NY – October 14-18, 2025
- ADFF:LA – October 22, 26, and 27, 2025
- ADFF:Vancouver – November 5-9, 2025
- ADFF:Toronto – November 12-15, 2025
- ADFF:Mumbai – January 8-11, 2026
- ADFF:Humanity in Architecture – January 30-31, 2026
- ADFF:Chicago – February 18-21, 2026
About the Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF)
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, engage, and inspire audiences of all backgrounds. Since its inception, ADFF 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, visit adfilmfest.com or @adfilmfest on Instagram and Facebook.