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For the past two decades Didi At the age of 86, Didi Contractor carry forward her fascinating
Contractor has been passionately pursues her vision working day ideas. Students from all over the
implementing her architectural and night – dreaming her designs world come to learn traditional
visions in North West of India, the then designing her dreams. She building practices and find out
Kangra Valley, at the foot hills of sketches roughly, then proportions how architecture can become a
the Himalayas combining rural tra- with pinpoint accuracy - the part of the ecosystem.
ditions with modern requirements. blueprints for economically and
This poetic documentary introdu- ecologically sustainable, bright
ces us to her creations - houses and well-ventilated buildings.
built from clay, bamboo, slate and
river stone, constructed in tribute We meet people who live in the
to their natural surroundings. visions realized by Didi Contractor
and share in their enthusiasm to
Director's Statement
Didi Contractor
Dharmalaya Institute
Bir • Built from 2012 to today
Director's Statement
For the past 20 years, Didi and want to explore her creative influences motivate her to build
Contractor has been building in ideas, which differ from everything these mud houses.
adobe, addressing herself to such that I had assumed in my life
For the length of a film, in the
complex challenges, as climate so far.
darkness of a movie theater, I
and cultural change, the energy
Her houses are convincing would like to take the audience
crisis and pollution, while oppo-
evidence of a possible alternative through the fascinating world
sing conventional roles, persistent
way of life. In order to understand of this 86 year old woman, Didi
paradigms of colonial history
how daily decisions can influence Contractor, and her vision. With
and modernization along Western
our environment, I wanted to this film I would like to inspire
lines.
explore her experiences, to know people to explore and to support
I am thrilled by her architectural how and where she lives and their own unusual imaginative
vision, admire her ideals, her works, with whom she communi- ideas.
bravery and strength of character, cates, and what interests and
Didi Contractor
Didi Contractor
Didi Contractor was born in 1929 In 1951, she met a young man from
in Minneapolis Minnesota. Her India and fell in love with him.
German father, Edmund Kinzinger, They married and Didi Contractor
and American mother Alice Fish happily set out to begin a
Kinzinger, were both Expressionist new life in distant India with her
painters, associated with Bau- husband Narayan Contractor, a
haus group of the 1920s. Although Hindu student of civil engineering.
she always felt drawn towards They raised a family and Didi
architecture, she studied art. As immersed herself in her new home
a young woman coming to adult- and it’s cultural patterns, turning
hood in the middle of the her training in art to design and
twentieth century, she was not architecture.
encouraged to study architecture.
Director's Statement
Sambhaavnaa Institute
Dining Hall
Kandbari • Built in 2014
architecture
Sadhana' s House
Rakkar • Built in 2000
Nishta Health Clinic
Rakkar • Built in 1995
architecture
2007 Brüder
Steffi Giaracuni is born in 1975 Since 10 years she repeatedly Cinema Documentary (camera)
in Heiligenstadt (Germany). Since realizes documentary film projects 2006 Per chi vien su dalla campagna
10 years she is living in Basel as director, editor, camera opera-
Short Documentary (editing)
(Switzerland). tor and producer.
She studied media design at the "Didi Contractor – Marrying the 2005 Seringal – Das Versprechen der Ministerin
Bauhaus University in Weimar Earth to the Building" is her first TV-Documentary (editing)
(Germany) and documentary film full-length documentary as a
2003 Nelken für Reisch
with focuse on camera at the director and producer.
Short Documentary (director)
Zelig - School for Documentary,
Television and New Media in
Bolzano (Italy).
Britta Kastern
© Senso
Maria Rank
Senso
Nico Contesse
Fatima Dunn
Bahman Kormi
Steffi Giaracuni
Year of production: 2016 an Individuofilm Production ritta Kastern
B
Running Time: 81 min Basel, Switzerland Bahman Kormi
Sound: 5.1 Dolby Digital Norma Giannetta
in Co-Production with Xaras Media
Subtitle: English
Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and Snehal Ramteke
Norma Giannetta, Zurich, Switzerland Neha Vaddadi
Tweaklab
Sponsored by
Director's Statement
contact
›www.didi-contractor-documentary.com
›www.facebook.com/Didicontractor
thanks
Hermann Amstad • Gisela Bächer Daniel Huber • Daniel Hunziker Judith Sterz • Christoph Straten
Thomas Bekmann • Jacek Bere Sylvia Hurdle • Jeff Kagel • Chris werth • Nancy Sutor • Mindy
zowski • Beverly Blum • Annette Kenyon • David Kläui • Heidi Köpfer Tauberg • Eveline Trachsel • Claude
Bott • Monika Brodbeck • Giacun Patrizia Krug • Matthias Kümpel Vaucher • Laura Walde • Senta
Caduff • Johannes Curio • Yahel Severin Lenel • Anita Leyh van de Weetering • Benjamin Wendt
Ben David • Anya Desai • Simon Susanne Meili • May-Britt Meisser Mirjam Weniger • Maria Wilcox
Dinello • Suresh, Anne, Ella & Tom Vittorio Moretta • Doris Müller Jiasong Yuen • Dachverband Lehm
Dittrich • Astrid Dolci-Hunkeler Maya Narayan • Erich Nussbaumer e.V. • Meyer & Salamon AG
Hansjakob Eggenberger • Rea Eggli Arlene Plevin • Thomas Reinhardt
Lewis Elbinger • Brian Garrison Julian Reisenberger • Regula Rüegg
Jens Haentzschel • Karen Harris Pit Rütimann • Elvira Schwarz
Director's Statement