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13m2

dir. Kamil  Bembnista & Ayham Dalal
documentary, 15min
Germany, 
2022

In 2015, Berlin received thousands of refugees over night. To accommodate them, new types of refugee camps called “Tempohomes” were constructed and new typologies of shelter were designed. This documentary short film explores the notion of the refugee camp as a space of “care and control” and offers provocative insights into the meaning of shelters today. It, moreover, highlights the links between refugee shelters, the city’s everyday architecture and the production of mass housing. By juxtaposing the initial design of shelters with refugees’ rearrangements of space, the documentary questions the role of architecture: how can we offer displaced populations better conditions to dwell? Can shelters be spaces of “care” without “control”? How can architecture empower people to express their cultur background and identities – in camps and beyond? How did refugees within these camps navigate meanings of “home”, and how did the camp managers respond to refugees’ appropriations? 
The film “13 Square Meters” weaves a tapestry of contemporary motifs that deal with ideas of displacement, space and architecture, while opening up a discussion on the similarities and differences between refugees’ shelter design and the production of modernist mass housing in cities.*
The film was produced as part of the research project A04 “Architectures of Asylum”. 

* sfb1265.de





written & directed by Kamil Bembnista & Ayham Dalal
supporting research team: Aline Fraikin, Antonia Noll
cinematography: Joanna Piechotta
editing: Elyes Mahfoudhi, Kamil Bembnista
sound recording: Paulina Sacha, Kamil Bembnista
drone: Jasper Granderath
illustration: Veronika Zaripova
narration: Karolina Golimowska
sound design: Paulina Sacha
colourist: Joanna Piechotta
production: SFB1265
funding: DFG



F E S T I V A L S // S C R E E N I N G S  

Architecture Film Festival London, UK 2021 /Award for best film in category „CARE“
Istanbul International Architecture Film Festival, Istanbul, Turkey 2021 /3rd prize for best documentary film
Screening Exhibition "Zu/Flucht" at Exilmuseum, Berlin, Germany 2021
Short Movie Club Film Festival "Nefiltravanae kino", Brest, Belarus 2022 /Public Choice Award
ByDesign Festival, Seattle, USA 2022
Psarokokalo Festival, Athens, Greece 2022 
Architektur.Film.Sommer, Architekturzentrum Wien, Austria 2022
Image de Ville, Marseille, France 2022
Refugees Welcome Film Festival, Berlin, Germany 2022  
Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands 2022
Arquitectura Film Festival Porto, Portugal 2023 /Award for best film in category "social awareness“                        




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