On Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2024, at 11.30 a.m. Joseph Gallivan interviews filmmaker and architect Yael Melamede about her documentary “Ada: My Mother The Architect.” Melamede talks about her mother Ada Karmi Melamede’s theories of grounded buildings and institutions that work for the people, her design of the Israel Supreme Court and Ben Gurion Airport, their mutual respect, and the effect of using the camera to frame her mom in horizontal and vertical aspects.
“ADA - MY MOTHER THE ARCHITECT” screens Wed, Feb. 19 at 7 PM at the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts in Beaverton, with the filmmaker in attendance.
From the press release:
ADA - MY MOTHER THE ARCHITECTprofiles a woman and artist deeply tested by the realities of career and motherhood, a unique mother-daughter bond, and a fragile nation grappling with unrealized dreams.
Ada Karmi Melamede is one of the most prolific architects of her generation in Israel and abroad. Through the lens of her daughter’s film camera lens, an extraordinary protagonist is revealed whose life story is intertwined with the story of the turbulent and complicated country she loves. Ada offers an unusually evocative perspective on ideas such as “place,” “home,” and “state” as someone working toward improving the public sphere while that sphere deteriorates and becomes increasingly fraught. As so many are shaken by the fragility of the democracy we call home, Ada gives us ways to think about what we seek in our personal and public lives, and the spaces and places in between.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER:
Yael Melamede founded the independent production company SALTY Features over two decades ago. Its most recent films include: Death & Taxes, a personal look at our publicly flawed tax system; Ada–My Mother the Architect, a documentary on architecture, motherhood, and home; Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely, a documentary on free speech through the story of First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams; and Pay or Die, a documentary examining the insulin crisis in America through the lens of Type 1 diabetes. Other credits include (Dis)Honesty, The Truth About Lies, the Academy Award-winning Inocente, Emmy-winning When I Walk, and Academy Award-nominated My Architect, as well as the six-part television series Why We Hate. Yael was trained as an architect and serves on the Board of UnionDocs and the Living City Project; she is also a member of the DPA and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.
Showings – select to order tickets:
Wed, Feb 19th, 7:00 PM @ Patricia Reser Center for the Arts
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Joseph Gallivan has been a reporter since 1990. He has covered music for the London Independent, Technology for the New York Post, and arts and culture for the Portland Tribune and for Axios Portland. He is the author of two novels, "Oi, Ref!" and "England All Over" which are available lightly used.