RIBAJ/Future Architects Film Competition 2025: forward-facing lenses leave judges thrilled

Animation, AI, stop motion, wide-angle views and more all featured in entries to the inaugural RIBAJ/Future Architects Film Competition. In previous years, our annual competition for students and young professionals has asked for written essays, but this year entrants deftly turned their lenses to filmmaking, with exciting and varied results.

The judging panel, made up of architectural photographer Edmund Sumner, communications consultant Rob Fiehn and 3D artist and filmmaker Silvia Tossici, was thrilled by the creativity shown and the range of architectural issues and personal subjects thoughtfully explored. ‘It was incredibly difficult to pick a winner,’ reflected Fiehn.

Entrants were asked to engage with one of three themes – Making buildings, In practice or After architects – with the latter proving especially popular. The most successful films captured and retained the viewer’s attention and carefully considered what to include in the tight two-minute time limit.

This is certainly true of the winning film, Dear Holloway Road, by Marco Nicholas (Part 2, working at dMFK Architects), which penned a love letter to the chaotic street over fast-paced snapshots of shops, traffic and people and took a £200 prize. ‘This is a very well thought out, complete film,’ praised Fiehn. 'The soundtrack and editing reflect the eclectic and messy look of the road itself,’ concurred Tossici. Sumner was particularly struck by the film’s emotion – ‘It’s beautiful, utterly genuine and truly moving.’

Two runners-up each received a £100 prize. Juliette Loubens (Part 1, studying at The Bartlett) delighted with an animated tale of circular and local bread production. ‘It deals with a big idea through small parts - from families to mice and bed bugs’, said Tossici. Fiehn commended the use of the architectural cross-section to link people together, ‘Wes Anderson-style’. Immanuel Lavery (Part 2) contemplated and evocatively captured a remote mountain hut in the Scottish Highlands. ‘It’s a film of moody and solitary beauty,' praised Tossici. ‘A truly cinematic piece of work leaning into architecture in its most primal form,’ echoed Sumner.

Commendations were awarded to two worthy entries. Inhabitation by Katherine McKay (Part 1, studying at Northumbria University) explored the relationship between architecture and raving with footage, quotes and a passionate voice-over. ‘This is a subject close to my heart,’ said Sumner, ‘made better by some fine music and striking imagery.’ Abdullahi Dahiru (Part 2, working at Stockwool) looked to the future in Lagos 2054, with vignettes of life after a climate catastrophe. The judges agreed it was a pressing subject, inventively depicted. ‘It’s exactly what young architects should be engaging with,’ Fiehn emphasised.

Winners were selected from an impressive shortlist, featuring:

• It Starts with a Sketch (David Connor) by Christopher Koutsoudes (Part 3, Maber Architects), co-authored with Andrew Spicer.
• An analysis of South African Architecture by Nina Shoulder (Part 1, University of the West of England Bristol).
• Room to Dream: A short film exploring the emotional and social reality of housing inequality by Emilia Chegini (Part 2, University of Dundee).
• London Terrace: A meditation on light and breath by Ollie Bingham (Part 2, William Smalley RIBA).
• AI – You decide... by Samuel Dempsey (Part 2, University of Salford).
• Private Property, Public Play by Myah Phelan (Part 2, University of Liverpool).
• The Imperfections of Architecture by Sana Tabassum (Part 2, Fathom Architects).
• Architects Engage! by Adam Dudley-Mallick (Part 2, Mole Architects).
• The Anatomy of a Student House by Leah Woodcock (Part 1, University of Nottingham).
• Pits and Pansies: The polluted legacy of building component manufacture in a Northern lead mine by Max Cooper-Clark (Part 2, Royal College of Art).

Watch winning films at ribaj.com/film-competition and the full shortlist here.