TOUCHER TERRE · ALL IN EARTH | Architektur & Film - Black Box im Filmmuseum Düsseldorf

TOUCHER TERRE · ALL IN EARTH

FR 2024 · 68 min · Original version with subtitles · digital DCP · Rated 18 · Dir: Jérémie Basset · Writ: Laetitia Fontaine, Romain Anger · Cast: Martin Sauvage, Julia Wurst, Anna Heringe, and others

German premiere!

Could it be that, in the midst of its spectacular architectural ambitions during industrialization, the West has forgotten how simple building can be? In hardly any other field has modern Western society strayed so far from its roots, forgotten so much traditional knowledge, or gradually distanced itself from a skill: namely, the ability to build one’s own home.

In TOUCHER TERRE, director Jérémie Basset explores the ancient, globally widespread building tradition of earthen houses. The film showcases the current renaissance of earthen construction in the West. Experts in archaeology, architecture, and construction technology shed light on the many facets of this building material, which can be produced easily and almost anywhere in the world with minimal effort. On a participatory construction site, laypeople learn how to add straw and water—both sourced locally—to the clay. From the ground to the walls, from the kneading hand to the high-tech construction site: Earth, or clay, belonged to the past—and now belongs to the future once again. 

Introduction: Océane Gonnet (art educator)