ADFF: Online

The Architecture & Design Film Festival celebrates the unique creative spirit that drives design. ADFF will offer select films from our 2023/24 season to viewers in the US and Canada. Many film programs include extra content, including shorts and Q&As. The films are offered for 12 days, and you can watch them anytime on your schedule.

This week, we are offering just one film, Soviet Bus Stops. You might know the Iconic books Soviet Bus Stops Volume I and Volume 2 by Christopher Herwig.The film brings the stories of finding these films and capturing them to life. It’s a travel film, a design film, and a fun film. If you have ever traveled in the former Soviet Union, this will bring back great memories.

If you have never traveled there, you will see the creative spirit of people in a country that spanned 11 time zones.

Soviet Bus Stops
2023 / 56 min / Denmark / Canada
Director: Christopher Herwig

Soviet Bus Stops accompanies Canadian photographer Christopher Herwig on his decades-long bus stop treasure hunt across the former Soviet Union. Herwig journeys from Ukraine to Uzbekistan, Armenia to Far Eastern Siberia, looking for the fascinating architectural marvels that are Soviet-era bus stops. His journey covers over 50,000 kilometers and shows us the high caliber of creativity that can emerge even in the context of a totalitarian regime. Based on a book by the same name, Soviet Bus Stops introduces us to some of the humble and charming bus stop creators who designed small acts of poetry against all odds.