Daughter of immigrants, an idealistic architect struggles to keep her dream alive as she journeys to discover why America abandoned World’s Fairs. For generations of Americans, World’s Fairs captured visions of hope for the future as part of their collective memory. Mina Chow became fascinated with World’s Fairs when she saw pictures of her parents at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Beginning with their stories, Mina shares this legacy and the American values that inspired her to become an architect. She is excited to go to the 1st World's Fair in China. With over 73 million visitors, the Shanghai World Expo breaks all attendance records for any event in human history. But what she discovers there not only destroys her confidence as an American architect; it is symptomatic of a country that has lost its way. With her dream destroyed, Mina begins a search for answers … to find out what happened to the vision of World’s Fairs ... and what happened to America.
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| The Future of Cities Director: Oscar Boyson 2016 / 18 min /
USA |
| What does “the future of cities” mean? For most of the developing world, it might be as simple as aspiring to having your own toilet, rather than sharing one with over 100 people. For a family in Detroit, it could mean having non-toxic drinking water. For planners and mayors, it’s about a lot of things — sustainability, economy, inclusivity, and resilience. Most of us can hope that future involves spending a little less time on our commutes to work and a little more time with our families. Oscar Boyson asked people around the world to participate in documenting city innovations around the world. Folks of all ages, from over 75 countries, volunteered their time, thoughts, work, and footage.
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| A Little Alcove: San Francisco Navigation Center Director: Julian Pham 2017 / 4 min /
USA |
| A Little Alcove: San Francisco Navigation Center is a short film about a pioneering, transitional housing concept for the homeless in San Francisco. We followed one of the residents, Fred Vickers, around to hear his story and spoke with the project’s architects and designers to learn about what influenced them and why this project is so important to the City. The Navigation Center is designed to serve San Francisco’s highly vulnerable and long-term homeless residents who are often afraid of approaching traditional shelters and services. The centers provide room and board while case managers work intensively to connect them to jobs, public benefits, health services and permanent housing opportunities.
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