VILLA TUGENDHAT

Cinema and Architecture at Anagi Art Foundation

VILLA TUGENDHAT – ARCHITECTURE AND PRIVATE SPACE AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF HISTORY
“Villa Tugendhat” (Czech Republic, 2013)
Director: Dieter Reifarth
117 min. Original version (German) with English subtitles

⏰ February 19, 20:00
📍 Anagi Art Foundation Cinema Hall, 12 Zurab Avalishvili St.
🎟️ Free admission

A discussion with invited guests will follow the screening.
Working language of the discussion: Georgian

🔗 To attend, please register:
https://forms.gle/wi3Km7gYw3f7fhtu5

The film tells the story of one of the masterpieces of architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe — Villa Tugendhat, built in 1928–1930 in Brno, Czech Republic, for Greta and Fritz Tugendhat. The villa is a unique example of modern architecture: innovative construction methods and luxurious materials, unusual for the time, were used in its creation. The building simultaneously reflects the architect’s utopian vision and the high social status and cosmopolitan lifestyle of its owners.

The documentary presents one of the finest examples of modernist architecture alongside the lives of its residents and the historical events surrounding it. In 1938, during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, the Tugendhat family was forced to emigrate — first to Switzerland and later to Venezuela. During World War II, the building housed a military base, and later served as a physiotherapy center and a secondary school.

After the Velvet Revolution, the villa became an important political venue. Negotiations on the dissolution of Czechoslovakia were held there, and it was announced that from January 1993 the country would split into two independent states. In 2001, the building was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a monument of historical and architectural significance.

Dieter Reifarth became interested not only in the architectural monument itself but also in the decades-long legal disputes surrounding it. In the film, the director tells the story of the remarkable patience and altruism of the Tugendhat family. They lived in the house for only eight years and spent the following seventy years coping with its loss.

Irina Kurtishvili’s author project “Film and Architecture” will continue at the foundation space through March 12. The first cycle of the project features eight films.

Full program: https://shorturl.at/bogk7

About the curator:
Irina Kurtishvili is a renowned artist, curator, and scenographer working in Germany and Georgia. Over the past two decades, she has initiated and authored numerous architectural, artistic, and cinematic projects in Tbilisi, Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna, and Zurich.

Details:
www.irinakurtishvili.com
www.architectureambience.com