It has been said that writing about music is as utterly nonsensical as dancing about architecture. Making films about architecture is a different matter entirely. For proof, consider the Architecture and Design Film Festival (ADFF), the ninth New York edition of which kicks off on November 1. Over its five-day run it will feature screenings of 34 films — including four world premieres — a short virtual reality documentary about the enduring influence of Buckminster Fuller, and plenty of post-screening panels and conversations.

And while the New York ADFF’s lineup features plenty of films about the usual starchitects — from the Rem Koolhaas doc REM and the Australian short Getting Frank Gehry to the elegiac Zaha: An Architectural Legacy and the prismatic Jean Nouvel: Reflections — it will also take up more unexpected and urgent topics.

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