S.H. Cinema: ‘The Shape of Homes to Come’ + H.G. Wells’ 1936 ‘Things to Come’ / 12.15th @ 4 PM

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THE SHAPE OF HOMES TO COME

SCIENCE ON SCREEN®

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SAG HARBOR CINEMA

WITH H.G. WELLS’ 1936 THINGS TO COME

Sunday, December 15th at 4:00PM

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The screening will be preceded by a presentation from architect

Raffaella Bortoluzzi and producer Filippo Brunamonti

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Sag Harbor Cinema celebrates the connection between utopia, technology and the mind of an architect as filtered through the lens of film in a special screening of the visionary collaboration between H.G. Wells, Alexander Korda, and William Cameron Menzies, Things to Come (1936) — on Sunday, December 15th at 4pm.

Before the screening, architect Raffaella Bortoluzzi, founder of Raffaella Bortoluzzi Architecture, will explore how emerging technologies—from 3D printing to algorithmic design—are reshaping our built environment.

“Two of my favorite films this year, Megalopolis and The Brutalist, tell the story of intrepid architects whose art—through the use of space, materials, light and the landscape—envisions a better world. It made me think of how much utopia is a fitting cinematic subject. Film has dreamed the future so many times. I knew of Raffaella Bortoluzzi’s project in the border town of El Paso through my friend, producer Filippo Brunamonti. I thought it would make a great pairing with William Cameron Menzies’ classic and a perfect introduction to our Science on Screen series,” says Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, SHC’s Artistic Director.

A singular masterwork of prescient imagination, Things to Come foresaw an architectural revolution that’s finally arriving through 3D-printed housing, where robotic arms challenge designers to generate original homes with construction costs under $99K.Through groundbreaking set designs, the film charts humanity’s path from destruction to utopia. This triumph of technical audacity—the most ambitious production from London Films—reveals how yesterday’s cinematic dreams are becoming today’s reality.

Bortoluzzi—whose design philosophy merges earthen elements with artificial materials, creating dynamic spaces where traditional vernacular meets contemporary innovation—fulfills this cinematic prophecy through her project for Initiative 99, a global competition drawing architects from sixty nations to reimagine affordable housing in El Paso. Proposing a meeting of ancient wisdom and algorithmic precision, the design features 3D-printed concrete volumes crowned with a roof that transforms into a canopy; an unexpected vertical element becomes a garden space for vegetation that doubles as a water-harvesting system, while the walls deform to create integrated planting pockets. Her design merges technology with nature, creating dynamic spaces where printed concrete volumes transform into living edens and water-harvesting systems, turning Wells’s futuristic vision into tangible architecture.

The technology behind this architectural alchemy comes from ICON, where Jason Ballard, a Texan of 41, has transformed the construction site into something resembling a vast pastry kitchen. His robotic arm, extruding concrete like an industrial-scale confectioner, layers a house into existence with metronomic patience—one “bead” every half hour, steel reinforcement every tenth layer, the entire 160-layer composition orchestrated via iPad with an almost unsettling serenity.

Bortoluzzi’s vision, shared with colleague Mark Fiedler of Fiedler Marciano Architecture, draws from an expanding palette of technological possibilities. The resulting spaces reject stasis—rooms pivot and transform, interiors become exteriors, and the very notion of an “American home” acquires a kinetic energy intrinsic to cinema.

To capture Bortoluzzi Architecture’s design process in action, journalist Filippo Brunamonti served as the executive producer of a short film, realized by his production company, Wonderwil, which currently serves as the editorial arm for internal research and tech projects curated by Google’s Visual Lab.

Tickets available at the box office or sagharborcinema.org

Science on Screen® is an initiative of COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE,
with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.

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ABOUT THE FILM

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THINGS TO COME

Directed by William Cameron Menzies

USA, 1936; 100 mins, in English

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It’s Christmas 1940, and Everytown resident John Cabal (Raymond Massey) fears that war is imminent. When it breaks out, the war lasts 30 years, destroying the city and ushering in a new dark age of plagues and petty despots. But there is hope in the form of Wings Over the World, a group of pacifist scientists and thinkers lead by Cabal. Their dream is to build a utopian society on the ruins of the old. But first they’ll have to unseat the latest ruling tyrant (Ralph Richardson). Written by H.G. Wells and based on his 1933 novel The Shape of Things to Come.

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THE GUESTS

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Raffaella Bortoluzzi

As Principal Architect and Founder of Raffaella Bortoluzzi Architecture, Bortoluzzi approaches architecture research as narrative–a constant joining of episodes in a dialectical way. Signatures of Bortoluzzi’s work include carefully considered materials and forms that add poetic (and sometimes surreal) dimensions to a project, and moments where disparate objects live together harmoniously. Born in Venice, she obtained her bachelor’s in architecture at Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia, Italy (IUAV) and her Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in New York. After positions with Gluckman Mayner Architects and Rafael Viñoly Architects, she established Labo Design Studio in 2001, now known as Raffaella Bortoluzzi Architecture.

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Filippo Brunamonti

Filippo Brunamonti is a New York-based journalist who studied at Urbino Journalism School and pursued religion and anthropology in Jerusalem. As Correspondent at Large for La Repubblica, contributor for Esquire and Wired, and editorial producer for Google’s Visual Lab, he focuses on arts, technology, and narrative non-fiction documentaries. His film collaborations include music consultation for Roberto Minervini’s What You Gonna Do When The World’s On Fire? (Venice Film Festival Competition) and story development for The Damned (Cannes Film Festival – Un Certain Regard).

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Sag Harbor Cinema

As a not-for-profit 501(c)3, community-based organization, Sag Harbor Cinema is dedicated to presenting the past, present and future of the Movies and to preserving and educating about films, filmmaking, and the film-going experience in its three state-of-the-art theaters. The Cinema engages its audiences and the community year-round through dialogue, discovery, and appreciation of the moving image – from blockbusters to student shorts and everything in between. Revitalized and reimagined through unprecedented community efforts to rebuild the iconic Main Street structure after a fire nearly destroyed it in 2016, SHC continues a long historic tradition of entertainment in the heart of Sag Harbor Village.

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Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a New York based, philanthropic, not-for-profit institution that makes grants in three areas: research in science, technology, and economics; quality and diversity of scientific institutions; and public engagement with science. Sloan’s program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology, directed by Doron Weber, supports books, radio, film, television, theater and new media to reach a wide, non-specialized audience and to bridge the two cultures of science and the humanities.

Sloan’s Film Program encourages filmmakers to create more realistic and compelling stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers in the popular imagination. Over the past two decades, Sloan has partnered with a dozen leading film schools and established annual awards in screenwriting and film production. The Foundation also supports screenplay development programs with the Sundance Institute, SFFILM, Film Independent, The Black List, the Athena Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival. The Program has supported over 800 film projects and has helped develop over 30 feature films, including Tesla, Radium Girls, Adventures of a Mathematician, One Man Dies a Million Times, The Sound of Silence, To Dust, Operator, The Imitation Game, and The Man Who Knew Inﬁnity. The Foundation has supported feature documentaries such as Vishniac, Join or Die, Werner Herzog’s Theater of Thought, David France’s How to Survive a Pandemic, Picture a Scientist, Coded Bias, In Silico, Oliver Sacks: His Own Life, The Bit Player, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, Particle Fever, and Jacques Perrin’s Oceans. It has also given early award recognition to stand out films such as The Pod Generation, BlackBerry, Don’t Look Up, After Yang, Linoleum, Son of Monarchs, Ammonite, The Aeronauts, Searching, The Martian, First Man and Hidden Figures.

The Foundation has an active theater program and commissions about twenty science plays each year from the Manhattan Theatre Club, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and the National Theatre in London, while supporting select productions across the country and abroad. Recent grants from Sloan’s Theater Program have supported Mark Rylance’s Dr. Semmelweis, Mary Elizabeth Hamilton’s Smart, Anchuli Felicia King’s Golden Shield, Sam Chanse’s what you are now, Charly Evon Simpson’s Behind the Sheet, Lucy Kirkwood’s Mosquitoes, Chiara Atik’s Bump, Nick Payne’s Constellations, Lucas Hnath’s Isaac’s Eye, Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51, David Auburn’s Proof, and Bess Wohl’s Continuity. The Foundation’s book program includes early support for Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, the best-selling book that became the highest grossing Oscar-nominated film of 2017 and Kai Bird & Martin Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning American Prometheus, adapted for the screen in Christopher Nolan’s hit film Oppenheimer.

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For more information about the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, visit sloan.org or follow the

Foundation on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @SloanPublic.

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Coolidge Corner Theatre

The nonprofit Coolidge Corner Theatre is a premier American independent cinema renowned for its curated feature film programming and innovative signature educational, cultural, and entertainment programs. A beloved movie house, the Coolidge has been pleasing audiences with the best in cinematic entertainment since 1933. In addition to premiere theatrical engagements of independent film and art house releases, the Coolidge presents numerous special programs including: Science on Screen®, high definition live broadcasts from London’s National Theatre and world renowned opera and ballet companies, Big Screen Classics, midnite screenings, The Sounds of Silents®, Shakespeare Reimagined, and weekend kids’ programs. The Coolidge has won numerous awards and honors for its creative programming.

For more information, visit coolidge.org.

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