THE human scale
Director: andreas m. dalsgaard
Facts are telling us that modern life comes with heavy side-effects. The consequences are seen on many levels. Growing violence and insecurity. Social exclusion at an ever greater scale. Human alienation and social fobia. Depression and anxiety are the diseases of today. Have we invented a diagnosis for an old problem, or is it in fact a diagnosis of the society we have created?
Architect Jan Gehl and his team at Gehl Architects study the life and behaviour of people in cities. They study patterns of human behaviour and seek to create urban design that inspires social interaction. They call it "the good life". The approach is defined as humanistic design, in which the people are more important than the design. During 40 years Jan Gehl has studied how the built environment can create social interaction. And when it doesn't.
Today, fifty percent of the worlds population live in urban areas. By 2050, this figure is expected to have increased by eighty percent. The megacity is both enchanting and scary. But how do we plan these cities? Typically, with gigantic systems of highways, highrise buildings, and life divided into separate cubicles and squares? But where do people meet in these cities? And if they don't, how does that affect their happiness? Can the urban design inspire social behaviour rather than repel it?
How do we design cities for people? What defines our happiness, and can the built environment inspire greater happiness? Clearly Copenhagen is not the only model for a happy life. But Gehl Architects offer a methodology rather than a model - a method to study and understand human behaviour. In fact they are still developing their method as we speak. Gehl Architects are a bank of knowledge bank and research center rather than a architecture-group. They try to understand us better. For us to create better cities.
PRODUCTION FACTS
Written and Directed by Andreas M. Dalsgaard
Producer
Signe Byrge Sørensen
Cinematographers
Heikki Färm, F.S.C
Adam Philp, DFF
Editors
Søren B. Ebbe
Nicolas Servide Staffolani
Composer
Kristian Selin Eidnes Andersen
Associate Producers
Andreas M. Dalsgaard
Anne Köhncke
Monica Hellström
Maria Kristensen
Graphic Design
Nicolas Servide Staffolani
Motion Graphics Artist
Emil Thorbjørnsson
Supported by Real Dania Fonden
Release: November 2012 (CPH:DOX 2012)
CONTACT
General Inquiries
maria(at)final-cut.dk
Sales Agent, Festival Coordination & Educational Licences:
Autlook Film Sales
Spittelberggasse 3/14, 1070 Vienna, Austria
Sales: welcome@autlookfilms.com
Festivals & Educational Licences: festival@autlookfilms.com
www.autlookfilms.com
Tel: +43 720 34 69 34
Distributors
Australia/New Zealand- Madman Entertainment
Poland - Against Gravity
USA - KimStim
Czech Republic - AeroFilms
Canada - Mongrel Media
Germany / Switzerland - NFP
BENELUX - Remain In Light
AWARDS
Child and Family Award for Long Film - Aljazeera Int. Documentary Film Festival 2013
Green Cross Award - Planete Doc, Warsaw 2013
Best Feature Documentary - Kinookus, Croatia 2013
Youth Award - Bergen International Film Festival 2013
FESTIVALS
2012
CPH:DOX 2012 - In Competition: NORDIC:DOX
2013
DocPoint, Helsinki - Finland
One World Int. Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Romania
ELTE Documentary Film Festival of Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest
Planete Doc, Warsaw - Poland
A Design Film Festival - Singapore
Nordische Filmwoche in der Urania - Austria
Doc Lounge -Sweden (Malmö, Göteborg, Lund)
Doc Lounge -Norway (Bergen)
Doc Lounge - Finland (Helsinki, Joensuu, Tampere)
Kosmorama Trondheim int. Film Festival - Norway
Hot Docs - Canada
Sydney Int. Film Festival
EcoFocus Film Festival in Athens, Georgia - US
Seattle International Film Festival - US
Al Jazeera Int. Film Festival
DOXA, Vancouver - Canada
CinemAmbiente Environmental Film Festival - Italy
Sibiu Film Festival - Romania
Open City Docs Fest - London, United Kingdom
Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles - US
Maine International Film Festival - US
Green Film Fest - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Transatlantyk: Poznan International Film and Music Festival - Poland
Revelation: Perth Int. Film Festival - Australia
Sydney Traveling Film Festival - Australia
ACMI, Melbourne - Australia
First International Film and Architecture Festival of Aviles - Spain
A Design Film Festival - Latvia
Dokufest - Kosovo
Traverse City Film Festival, Michigan - US
Architecture & Design Film Festival, NYC - US
Greentopia, New York - US
Denver Film Society (Biannale of America) - US
Hawaii International Film Festival - US
Architecture and the City Festival, San Francisco - US
Seattle Design Festival - US
Adelaide Film Festival - Australia
Hamburg Film Festival - Germany
Zurich Film Festival - Switzerland
Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival - US
Kinookus Film Festival - Croatia
Vladivostok International Film Festival - Russia
Take One Action Film Festivals - UK
Contemporary Science Film Festival, Moscow - Russia
Filmdagar, Stockholm - Sweden
Leeds Int. Film Festival - United Kingdom
Sustainable Living Film Festival, Ankara & Istanbul -Turkey
Doc Soup, Calgary - Canada
Downtown DocFest, Belleville Ontario - Canada
The Hamptons Int. Film Festival, New York - US
Quark Expeditions- Floating Polar Film Festival (Hot Docs)
Salem Film Fest - US
UW-Madison Havens Center-Social Cinema: Stories of Struggle and Change - US
Architecture and Design Film Festival, Los Angeles - US
Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital - US
Gene Siskel Film Center(European Union Film Festival) - US
San Diego Design Film Festival - US
Architecture & Design Film Festival, Chicago- US
People in Peril - Slovakia
The Finále Plzeň Film Festival - Czech Republic
Rio Int. Film Festival - Brazil
Baikal Int. Film Festival - Russia
Milano Design Film Festival - Italy
EBS Documentary Film festival - Korea
Aldeburgh Doc/Fest - UK
Cinema Verité Int. Documentary Festival - Iran
Design Indaba Film Fest - South Africa
Ecofalante Environmental FIlm Festival, Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Belfast Film Festival - Ireland
Sakhalin Int. Film Festival - Russia