“Columbus … is a clever and compelling exploration into how physical structures can come to represent emotional landmarks in our personal lives, and the drive we have to share them with others.” — Vanity Fair

Join Frances Anderton, host of KCRW’s DnA: Design and Architecture, and filmmaker Kogonada in the SANAA-designed River building at Grace Farms for an advance screening of Kogonada’s Columbus, a new film that centers around the small Midwestern city celebrated for its many significant modernist buildings by Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, and Deborah Berke, among others. The screening will be followed by a conversation between Anderton and Kogonada as well as a light reception.

Please note: this program will take place at Grace Farms (365 Lukes Wood Road, New Canaan, CT) and is presented in collaboration with Grace Farms Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing nature, arts, justice, community, and faith initiatives. For more information, please visit gracefarms.org.

In the film, when his architecture expert father falls ill in Columbus, Indiana, Jin (John Cho) flies in from South Korea to be with him. Jin strikes up a friendship with Casey (Haley Lu Richardson), a young architecture enthusiast who works at the local library. As their intimacy develops, Jin and Casey explore both the town and their conflicted emotions: Jin’s estranged relationship with his father, and Casey’s reluctance to leave Columbus and her mother. With its naturalistic rhythms and empathy for the complexities of families, debut director Kogonada’s Columbus unfolds as a gently drifting, deeply absorbing conversation. With strong supporting turns from Parker Posey, Rory Culkin, and Michelle Forbes, Columbus is also a showcase for its director’s striking eye for the way physical space can affect emotions. The film opens in theaters beginning August 4. For more information please visit columbusthemovie.com.

Kogonada is a proud immigrant who was born in Seoul and raised in the Midwest. He has been recognized by Filmmaker Magazine (25 New Faces of Independent Film) and The New Yorker for his visual work and film criticism commissioned by the Criterion Collection and Sight & Sound. He currently resides in Nashville with his wife and two sons. Columbus is his directorial feature debut.

Frances Anderton is the host of DnA: Design and Architecture, a weekly radio show broadcast on KCRW in Los Angeles, and nationally on kcrw.com/dna.  She is a regular public speaker and writer about design. Honors include the Architectural Guild of USC School of Architecture’s Esther McCoy Award for her work in educating the public about architecture and urbanism.