Experiencing Interruptions?

Next Sunday

'To claim the right to the city in the sense I mean it here is to claim some kind of shaping power over the processes of urbanization, over the ways in which our cities are made and re-made and to do so in a fundamental and radical way.' (David Harvey, The Right to the City).
The film explores an unrealized potential of the Rachid Karame International Fair for local residents of Tripoli, Lebanon. Locally called the Maarad (exhibition) it was designed by famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in the 1960s. It occupies an area of 1 million m2. The complex was supposed to be ready for the 1975 International Fair. However that same year the civil war started and the space was never finished. Most locals have never ventured inside but some people are arbitrary let in by the guards: tourists, joggers, and dog walkers. There are transgressions and trespasses that happen. Removed metal bar in a fence creates a gap, a blind spot between worlds.
The film focuses on a group of teenage boys entering the space, who ventured inside every Sunday. They used to enter the space illegally through the opening in the surrounding fence or by jumping over the fence. The boys would go to the Maarad to ride BMX bikes or rollerskate, practice gymnastics, and learn tricks with each other. The space became more than this for them: they spent time, hanged around, showed off and practiced other rituals of every-day life inside the Maarad. It became an important part of their individual histories, hopes and dreams. Their energy gave breath of new life to the decaying modernist ruin of Niemeyer's gem, bringing back questions of social meaning of architecture. How did they use the space? What did it mean to them? How were they transforming it? Did it become a place of refuge? Did their ventures inside revitalize the space in subversive way? Can they be seen as transgressions or forms of resistance, even if unconscious? Poetic and reflective rhythm of the film amplifies this meeting between architecture and people, creating contemplative space for the viewer.

  • Marta Bogdanska
    Director
  • Marta Bogdanska
    Producer
  • Magdalena Sowul
    Music
  • Szymon Ronowicz
    Colour grading
  • Jaroslaw Downar
    Sound design
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    Architecture, Urban, Cityscape
  • Runtime:
    17 minutes 54 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 1, 2019
  • Country of Origin:
    Poland
  • Country of Filming:
    Lebanon
  • Language:
    Arabic
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam 2020
    Rotterdam
    Netherlands
    October 9, 2020
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
  • MIlano Design Film Festival 2020
    Milano
    Italy
    November 8, 2020
    Italian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • BARQ INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE FILM FESTIVAL BARCELONA 2021
    Barcelona
    Spain
    Spanish Premiere
    Official Selection
  • ENNESIMO FILM FESTIVAL 2021 - CAESAR DESIGN AWARD
    Ennesimo
    Italy
    Official Selection
  • BATROUN MEDITERRANEAN FILM FESTIVAL 2021
    Batroun
    Lebanon
    Asian / Lebanese Premiere
    Official Selection
  • MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL DESIGN FILM FESTIVAL 2021
    Moscow
    Russian Federation
    Russian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • LUND INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE FILM FESTIVAL 2021
    Lund
    Sweden
    Swedish Premiere
    Official Selection
  • CINETEKTON! INTERNATIONAL FILM & ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL 2021

    Mexico
    South American Premiere
    Official Selection
  • VISIONI URBANE / URBAN VISIONS: BEYOND AN IDEAL CITY FESTIVAL 2021
    Bologna
    Italy
    WINNER - BEST FILM
  • AFRAGOLA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN 2021
    Afragola
    Italy
    WINNER - BEST FILM
  • TAMPERE FILM FESTIVAL 2022
    Tampere
    Finland
    Finnish Premiere
    Special Section Screening
  • URBAN VISIONS. Architecture and the Future of Cities 2022
    Dubai
    United Arab Emirates
    UAE Premiere
    Official Selection
  • PSAROKOKALO INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2022
    Athens
    Greece
    Greek Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Marta Bogdanska

Marta Bogdańska is a visual artist, photographer, cultural manager, and filmmaker, (documentaries Unicorn, In Between & Next Sunday). She studied philosophy and gender studies at the University of Warsaw, and at the Home Workspace Program in Beirut. She graduated from the Academy of Photography, the School of Looking, and the Open Institute. She has carried out international artistic & cultural projects, and lived in Lebanon for more than 8 years. Currently she is attending the School of Ecopoetics. Marta is a Talent Artist of international FUTURES PHOTOGRAPHY platform, and a member of both APP - Archive of Public Protests and WOMEN PHOTOGRAPH.

In 2021 she won the Konrad Pustoła Scholarship and Selma Lagerlöf Scholarship. Her book SHIFTERS was chosen by PHotoESPANA as Best International Photography Book of the Year, and was nominated for the Kassel Dummy Award, the Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award Arles, & the MACK First Book Award. Together with ARCHIVE OF PUBLIC PROTESTS (APP) and 5 other artists she won the latest edition of SPOJRZENIA / VIEWS 2021 AWARD and was nominated for PASZPORTY POLITYKI AWARD 2021. As a winner of Photo-Match 2020 organised by Fotofestival Łódź & Kraków Photomonth she had a solo exhibition at Kraków Photomonth 2021. As a Winner of PIX.HOUSE Talent of the Year 2020 contest she made PLAINTEXT zine.

Marta's work has been shown at BELFAST PHOTO FESTIVAL, ATHENS PHOTO FESTIVAL, PHOTOESPANA, FOTOFESTIVAL ŁÓDŹ, CIRULATION(S) IN PARIS, PHOTOLUX FESTIVAL, FORT Institute of Photography, MELKWEG EXPO, BARQ Film Festival, Batroun Mediterranean Film Festival, CINETEKTON Film Festival, Moscow International Design Film Festival, the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam, Milano Design Film Festival, BLICA - Lebanese International Biennale for Cinema and the Arts, TIFF Festival in Wrocław, Art Market Budapest, Odessa Photo Days, Encontros da Imagem in Braga, Imago Lisboa Photo Festival, FIF - International Festival of Photography of Belo Horizonte, OBSCURA Festival of Photography in Malaysia, the Sursock Museum in Beirut, Landskrona Foto in Sweden, Lokal_30 gallery, Studio Gallery in Warsaw, and the Labyrinth Gallery in Lublin.

Marta was awarded numerous art residencies and grants: FRESH A.I.R. Berlin artist residency (2022), Heinrich Boell Foundation grants for Exilium and Mixed Feelings projects, LAIMUN Residency Berlin, OSIEDLE JAZDÓW RESIDENCY in Warsaw with an experimental sound project ROZDŹWIĘKI I JAZGOTY, LANDSKRONA FOTO RESIDENCY in Sweden, Nida Art Colony in Lithuania, Gasworks in London and Botkyrka Konsthal in Stockholm.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

It was love at first sight for me. I remember when in 2010 I went to the Rachid Karami International Fair complex in Tripoli for the first time. It was as if I entered a different space, lost in time. It had some sort of magnetic power and it overtook me. I became friends with the Maarad (local name meaning 'exhibition') - I used to return there on every occasion that I had, I took friends with me to show them this amazing complex. Each time I went there I would feel more and more attached to the buildings and the unique atmosphere of this place. Every structure had its own story to tell and I spent hours hanging out, sitting and listening to the space, climbing the different structures, meeting other people who managed to get inside (often local youngsters who climbed over the fence). I wanted to share this experience with as many people as possible. This need to share continued to grow in me, as I began to create my own archive of pictures from this unique space. I also started having more and more questions about the space myself and I started looking for answers. Finally, I realized that this interest grew in me so strong and deep that it became part of my thinking of Lebanon, part of my Lebanon and my Lebanese experience. Then it was truly surprising for me to realise that a lot of people, even architects, both in Lebanon and abroad, have never heard about the Fair, despite of it being designed by such genius as Oscar Niemeyer. It became clear to me that I would like to work on a project that can change this situation and bring back the glory of Oscar Niemeyer’s architectural site. I would like to give it attention it deserves and to promote this heritage globally.