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A video still of a refurbished villa which now houses the offices of the World Bank in Asmara, built in 1938. This image is taken from the award winning documentary City of Dreams
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City of Dreams: Winner of a 2005 Telly Award
Directed by Ruby Ofori and Edward Scott Length: 52 mins Price: $24.95 Click here to buy City of Dreams DVD (NTSC or PAL) from the Customflicks Store
Click
here to buy City of Dreams DVD (NTSC Version) from Amazon.com
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CITY
OF DREAMS is 52 minutes of magic. Through the eyes and souls of buildings,
a living history is conveyed via the architecture of the city of
Asmara. Buildings become storytellers; they are transformed into
statuesque, motionless testimonies of colonialist histories. A haunting
musical score accompanies these treasures that reveal the pain and
passion This is a fresh genre of documentary making. Here, the children of the Diaspora turned film-makers ?ｬ Ruby Ofori and Edward Scott - fuse the technical know-how of their world with the spiritual knowledge of their ancestral home and create fresh perspectives and unlock crucial but untold tales of the cities of Africa, beginning with Asmara. The
eye of Scott is culturally and creatively fused as he points his
camera to create a sombre beauty in sometimes stunning, sometimes
haunting images of this city. The human narrators and characters
in the film add additional This is Africa untold, perspective undiscovered. Here is a genre of documentary making that creates a fresh vision of territory so often rolled into a single, replayed story. Here come storytellers who carry soul in their cameras, vision in their direction and unique cultural understanding in their production.
SYNOPSIS In City of Dreams Architect Naigzy Gebremedhin takes the audience on a historical and architectural tour of his beloved city Asmara, Eritrea, which is regarded as the most important center of rationalist architecture in Africa. Inspired by Mussolini's dream of recreating the Roman Empire in Africa, Asmara is the site of some 400 or so architecturally significant buildings which were designed by Italian architects and engineers of the 1930s. Men such as Giuseppe Pettazzi used the creative freedom that was given them to experiment with new forms. In Pettazzi's case it was to design a gas stationtht resembles an airplane. At the time of its construction critics expected Pettazi's futuristic creation, known as the Fiat Tagliero or l'aeroplano, would soon collapse. The city and Fiat Tagliero have survived 30 years of civil war and a subsequent two years of war with Ethiopia. ironically, Asmara may now become a victim of the decaying effects of poverty and time. City of Dreams explores the ambiguities of the city's architectural legacy which, though treasured by her African inhabitants, also hold bitter memories of racial segregation that are recalled through personal testimonies and stunning, rarely seen archival footage. These include actual scenes of the construction of the Asmara-Massawa railway obtained from the Luce Institute in Rome. The documentary also features still photographs obtained from Archivio Alinari, the world's oldest photo agency. Directed by Edward Scott and Ruby Ofori
REVIEWS
"Through new and archival film footage and historic images from the Alinari Photo Archive, City of Dreams captures in a very tangible way the remarkable architectural heritage of Asmara, and its place within the social fabric of the city. City of Dreams is recommended for libraries and programs with collections in the visual arts, architecture, and African studies.” EMRO
"...a fascinating journey through the architectural wonders of the Eritrean city of Asmara." AZURE magazine
"... shows how African architects are involved in the renovation works of their own heritage and are doing this with care and a sense for the beauty of the existing buildings. It is to be hoped that this film will be shown all around the continent, to show that this approach can lead to the development of a nation’s own culture and identity." Archiafrika.org
"I watched your documentary with great pleasure...Congratulations on this great work!... It was fantastic to escape from reality for a while and discover the marvels of Asmara" - Emilie d'Orgeix, Secretary General." DoCoMomo
SCREENINGS
July 23-29th, 2005, Dar es Selam, Tanzania.
Rosebud Film and Video Festival in Arlington Virginia, USA, April 2005.
ASMARA – Africa’s Secret Modernist City An exhibition at the German Center for Architecture(DAZ), Berlin.
RECENT ARTICLES ON ASMARA
reports on the architecture and politics of a nation on its knees.
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