Paris 2054


gravestmor‘s got the goods on Renaissance, a new sci-fi film set in “Paris 2054,” directed by Christian Volckman.


Marcus, at gravestmor, describes the film as “Sin City meets Blade Runner meets Metropolis meets Waking Life” (though hopefully not the latter) – and, from the looks of it, I’d add Alphaville.


But, either way, the film seems further proof that students of architectural design should stop pinning all their hopes solely on architecture, and consider guerilla careers as film, or even game, start-ups, using their graphic ideas and energy to take over Hollywood. Invest in some Power Macs, buy some editing software, talk to your musician friends, get a writer – hire BLDGBLOG – and suddenly that M.Arch degree will put you behind the Oscar stand. Drooling champagne and groping Salma Hayek.


But I digress.
These are film stills taken from the movie’s press section – the film’s in French, by the way – and a bit more info can be found at Twitch and Variety.
Then start outlining your own cinematic debut.


[Images: ©Onyx Films/Millimages/Luxanimation/Timefirm Ltd/France 2 Cinema].

(Via gravestmor).

14 thoughts on “Paris 2054”

  1. This looks wonderful, thanks for posting it. As far as wanting more architects in film and games go, I wholeheartedly agree, and would like to suggest comics as another venue where architectural minds could shine. BLAME! is one of my favourite mangas, a wonderfully dark, operatic story set in some of the most beautiful environments I’ve seen in any medium,written and drawn by Nihei Tsutomu, a former architect. And it really shows.

  2. Lapsarian, I’m behind you 100%. 300% even. A million percent. In fact, I’m chomping at the bit here to make something like this but I can’t draw a straight line to save my life – let alone a whole city. But if anyone needs a writer…

    By the way, Laps, I’m still reeling from your gondola/library idea. Speaking of comic books… That would make an amazing set.

  3. great images!
    and the idea architect will join the creating of fictional cities in movies, comics, computer games etc…is right on place.

    good luck !

  4. I wonder if Giovanni Battista Piranesi would be in the movies if he were alive and working today. He’s already virtually working there though, isn’t he? His Carceri/Prisons may well have inspired more cinematics than we even know. But Piranesi had more than just a dark side. He even drew a whole city and delivered an astounding narrative within said drawing of a whole city–yes, drawing a whole city and ‘writing’ a story at the same time. (It’s called Ichnographia Campi Martii.)

    I love the product placement within this thread, by the my. That’s kinda cinematic too these days.

    Piranesi is currently in a couple of virtual novels, and in one of them he and Julian Abele and James Stirling deliver a paper entitled “The Pope’s Funeral and Ichnographia Romaphilia. It turns out all three departed architects now love Roma and Philadelphia.

    Julian Abele’s birthday is tomorrow.

  5. Hey Geoff

    We have a whole unit at the Bartlett that deals specifically with film for most of their Part 2 Diploma (UK Version pretty much to an M.Arch).

    Unit 15

    They spend 2 years working on films rather than buildings and a good few end up working in film, animation etc.

    I guess when 1 options CAD Monkey and the other 3D Max/aftereffects Monkey your going to end up been a Monkey either way, well for a while at least.

    Keep up the great work

    Ruairi
    interactive arch

  6. Geist, love it (minus the soundtrack and the Flash) – thanks for that. Didn’t know about Galvez…

    And Ruairi, good to know – are you involved with that? Has anything good come out of it yet? I’ll post about it as a follow-up. Have you made any films???

    And Stephen, why did the reincarnated Piranesi like Philadelphia…? Curiouser and curiouser.

  7. The dead Piranesi likes Philadelphia because of the design Benjamin Franklin Parkway — http://www.quondam.com/23/2219.htm .

    Plus, almost 240 years after Piranesi secretly changed the Ichnographia Campi Martii into a second state, the two version of the large plan were finally discovered in Philadelphia. Piranesi made the secret changes only to see who would ultimately discover them — http://www.quondam.com/13/1242.htm .

  8. The suggestion that an architectural design education is some how a qualification or wise course of study for a career in film is a pretty big leap. I would sooner suggest a background in the traditional arts (drawing,painting,illustration)supplemented with graphics. Or better yet, study film making.

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