And the alley she whitewashed in light blue

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Duration: 01:12:00
Languaje: Hebrew
Category: Documentary
Project Type: Documentary, Experimental, Feature, Other
Synopsis: At a time of existential threat to the physical and human environment we live in, Architect Nili Portugali takes us into a deeply intimate journey in the Galilean 'Kabbala' holy city of Tsefat. A childhood journey that unfolds gradually from her present holistic / phenomenological / Buddhist / scientific Point of View, (replacing current thoughts and approaches) to a discovery of profound universal insights of: What is their secret of all those great timeless buildings of the past, cities, villages, tents and temples endowed with beauty and soul in which man feels 'at home', and what is that One pure 'art of making' which is thousands of years old that creates them (and the Arts? at any culture, at any place and at any time. That, via reconstructing in her unique poetic meditative cinematic language her childhood memories engraved on each stone of the invisible city's history with cultural heritage of more than 1000 years that no longer exists, and is totally forgotten. The birth place and hometown of her family since early 19th century, where her grandmother considered by Portugali a "Zen master" founded her hotel, in a small stone building around a patio at the end of an alley in the old city that no longer exists. "Using my body of knowledge and experience I have been accumulating in multidisciplinary creative work in the visual arts; writing and Architecture as my main profession, the film both in form and content, explore and cross new boundaries, and straddle the line between art and cinema“.

Screenings / Awards:
Mumbai International film festival (MIFF) Mumbai World premiere MIFF India EPOS - The International Art Film Festival, Israel Tel Aviv Israeli premiere Israel Maine International Film Festival, USA Waterville North America United States Lund International Architectural Film Festival, Sweden Lund Sweden 100 ARCHITECTS OF THE YEAR Exhibition , Korea Istanbul Experimental International Film fest Turkey O PLATEAU Festival International de Cinema da Praia Istanbul experimental film festival New Delhi Film Festival, India O PLATEAU Festival International de Cinema da Praia Inca Imperial International Film Festival, Lima (Peru) AWARD O PLATEAU Festival International de Cinema da Praia AWARD Blow-Up International Arthouse film festival, US Polish International Film Festival We Make Movies International Film Festival (LA, USA) Aegean Docs International Film Festival Conscious Cities Festival (CCF) Samskara International Film Festival, India – AWARD Nawada International Film Festival, India- AWARD Madhubani Film Festival – India Global Bengaluru International Film Festival, India Kalaburagi International Film Festival, India Annual Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Film Festival (Denver, USA)

Submitter Biography:
Nili Portugali is a well-known practicing Architect; senior lecturer; researcher and published author. Her multidisciplinary work both in practice and theory is closely connected to the holistic-phenomenological school of thought. She is 7th generation descendant of a family living in the holly 'Kabbala' city of Tsefat, Israel since the early 19th century. She was a senior lecturer at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem and at the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion, Haifa. She is a Guest lecturer at MIT, Harvard, Carleton University, Oxford University, TU Stuttgart; TU Dresden; TU Delft, Tsinghua University China. Her first book: The Act of Creation and The Spirit of A Place/ A Holistic-Phenomenological Approach to Architecture/ Edition Axel Menges Stuttgart/London was listed in the books of the year by the Royal Institute of British Architects (R.I.B.A). In the book Review by URBAN DESIGN International / Palgrave Macmillan Journals it was written: "PORTUGALI’S QUIET REVOLUTION MAY BE THE ONE THAT PASSES THE ULTIMATE TEST OF TIME" Her work is documented in books, in the Dictionair De l’Architeture Du xxe Scielle / Hazan Publication France, in professional journals, in the press and on TV. Graduated at the A.A. School of Architecture - London; Post G selected studies in Architecture & Buddhism at U.C Berkeley; Film studies at the Tel-Aviv University. She did research work in the 'Center for Environmental Structure' Berkeley, with Prof. Chris Alexander. Among the world-known buildings she designed is: 'The Felicja Blumenthal Music Center and Library' at the historic heart of Tel-Aviv. Her work was exhibited in the Venice Architecture Biennale, Barcelona Spain, Linz Austria, San Paolo Architecture Biennale and more. The film she directed; edited and did the production design can be seen as the third of a Creative TRILOGY following the buildings she designed as an architect and the published books she wrote.