Join NLA at RIBA on Wednesday 11 May for a preview screening of Jonathan Ben-Shaul’s documentary-dance film which explores the legacy of Soviet architecture in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

 

Moving fluidly between interview and dance, What Shall We Do With These Buildings? playfully investigates the dynamic impact that these buildings have on the people who live in them. The film was shot in September 2021, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  

Hosted by NLA’s Peter Murray, the film screening will be followed by a Q&A with Director Jonathan Ben-Shaul, Editor and Co-producer Louis Norris and a panel discussion.

Sign up by clicking here. This event is free to attend. We encourage anyone able to make a donation to the UN Crisis Relief at the event.  

For the latest RIBA guidance on the Ukraine crisis, visit here. 

Jonathan Ben-Shaul is a movement and theatre director from London. A graduate of Cambridge University and L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, before the invasion, Ben-Shaul taught at the Kharkiv School of Architecture. What Shall We Do With These Buildings? was the result of a two-month residency supported by Kharkiv Literary Museum, during which Ben-Shaul undertook an investigation into the living relationship that we have to our built environment. This was a theme which he felt had particular resonance in Kharkiv and the Soviet modernist architecture in the city.

Louis Norris is a filmmaker from London. His short films have been shown at festivals worldwide (most recently at the BFI in June, as part of the London Short Film Festival), with one award (Best UK Film, Dirigo Film Festival, Bristol, 2019). Another short was given a feature in Film International last year. He’s worked in cinema programming (for the Garden Cinema, London) in digital art production (ZINC, Marseille), and as a projection designer in theatres in the United Kingdom and Iceland. He’s currently doing a master's in Political Sociology at the London School of Economics while working as a freelance filmmaker and editor.