Tokyo Ride

Yesterday we saw the film "Tokyo Ride" at an event presented jointly by Grace Farms and the Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF).

The plot line involves celebrated architect Ryue Nishizawa from the Pritzker-winning firm SANAA taking the audience for a drive around Tokyo in his vintage Alfa Romeo. Along the way he tells stories about his home town through favorite architectural sites, buildings that have influenced him and some of his own projects.

En route we visit the home of his partner Kazuyo Sejima (SANAA stands for "Sejima And Nishizawa And Associates"). After tea, we give her a ride to work at the firm's Tokyo office where she gives a small tour. The highlight is when she shows off the day bed where she takes her power naps.

Nishizawa's driving tour ends with a visit to the Moriyama House for a sushi-box dinner on the roof terrace with Moriyama-san himself. This not only connects the architect Nishizawa to his client (the theme of the film festival is "Humanity in Architecture") but to a previous film made by the same directors called “Moriyama-san.”

The directorial team, Beka & Lemoines (Ila Beka, Louise Lemoines), have made two films connected to SANAA now, "Tokyo Ride" and "Moriyama-san". Both films are made in cinema verité style. Both films use clever black-and-white title cards to energize and structure the storylines.

Both films were shown at the above-mentioned film festival, which is in its inaugural year. Before the screenings Grace Farms architectural advisor Toshihiro Oki and ADFF festival director Kyle Bergman gave short introductions, explaining how these films and the festival more broadly advance the aims of the Grace Farms foundation.

IMO, there is no better place to see movies about SANAA than in a space that they designed themselves, Grace Farms’s River Building.

Looking forward to next year’s event already.

Thanks Beka & Lemoines!