137. Bawa's Garden with Clara Kraft Isono

Original Drawing by Tori Haynes

This week, we are joined by Clara Kraft Isono, who directed the architecture film Bawa's Garden. Isono is an architect, film maker, and educator in the UK and is currently focused on film making. In this discussion, Isono talks about what film making is, as well as what an architecture film is and what it should be.

Timestamp Outline 

2:51    Bawa’s Garden

3:46    How did your love for film making as an architect develop?
Bringing people into film: bringing the “actors” to the set in “costume”
”In film school, there’s very little discussion about space. It’s all about time.” CKI
”I like to build my movies like I build my buildings” CKI

12:43 Peter Greenaway
Pedro Almodóvar
Michelangelo Antonioni

13:09    What kind of films did you make before architecture films? Why did you shift?
Achele (Sister) (2012)

13:30 Sunless - Chris Marker

17:19 Essay film: Allow the spectator or viewer to write their own story and their own interpretation

17:50    What is your connection with South Asia?

19:10 Bawa’s Garden: What drew you to Geoffrey Bawa and this topic?
How did you decide you were going to make a film about Bawa’s garden?
Minnette de Silva

30:11 What is the structure of the film and how did you decide to cast your character?
What were you trying to say with this movie?
What is VP’s favorite scene?

44:14 “Bawa’s Garden is all of his work” CKI

46:47 Kishkindha - the forest as the city

48:58 75 Years of Lunuganga

52:19 What is your preservation philosophy?
”He didn’t think about is as what it would look like now, but what it would look like 25 years from now.” CKI

56:48 What projects do you have going on now? What’s next?