Film
Ninety-year-old Agatha Bock lives alone on her farm in Manitoba, Canada, without a mobile phone, car or running water. Her days follow the rhythm of nature and the work on the land. AGATHA’S ALMANAC is the first feature-length documentary project by the Canadian multidisciplinary artist Amalie Atkins, who followed her aunt for six years with an all-female crew.
The short film METABOLIC WALL will be screened beforehand. The film explores the construction process and the philosophy behind the architectural pavilion by the same name.
At the age of ninety, Agatha Bock still lives alone and independently on her farm in Manitoba, Canada. Despite physical limitations, she continues to work her land using traditional methods. She sows, tends and harvests her fields by hand. Her days follow the rhythm of nature and the work on the land: sowing, harvesting, preserving and tending. Some seeds have been passed down through her family for generations.
Agatha’s farm has remained largely unchanged since the 1950s, making it a living archive of a way of life that is slowly disappearing. Independent, practical and remarkably self-sufficient, Agatha repairs what breaks, knows her surroundings intimately and has little need for the conveniences on which modern life depends. Her daily existence stands in stark contrast to a society increasingly reliant on technology, mobility and comfort. At the same time, her way of life reveals how closely living, working and nature can remain intertwined.
AGATHA’S ALMANAC is the first feature-length documentary project by the Canadian multidisciplinary artist Amalie Atkins, who followed her aunt for six years with an all-female crew. With her 16mm Bolex camera, she captures a seemingly archaic, artisanal way of life, entirely attuned to the seasons. This ties in closely with Atkins’ broader practice, in which she combines 16mm film, performance, textiles, installation and analogue photography.
AGATHA’S ALMANAC, awarded Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs, is an intimate portrait of a way of life that is slowly disappearing from our landscape.
The short film METABOLIC WALL will be screened prior to AGATHA’S ALMANAC. Directed by William Van Bavel, the film explores the construction process and the philosophy behind the architectural pavilion of the same name by Felix Verheyden and Thomas Gkikas. ‘Nothing is permanent’, the film’s subtitle, refers to the temporary nature of the installation in the hills of Pietrarubbia, Italy.
The filmmakers approach architecture as a living and transient process. The pavilion’s wooden lattice structure is filled with local hay bales and has been deliberately designed to be gradually broken down by nature. Deer and wild boar feed on the hay, birds use it as nesting material, and insects and fungi slowly break it down. Ultimately, only the wooden skeleton remains, which is then dismantled and reused.
For the screening on 6 October, director William Van Bavel and architect Felix Verheyden will give an introduction to their short film METABOLIC WALL.
20.10.2026
Can’t make it today? Don’t worry! This programme will also be shown on 06.10.2026 (with introduction).
19.45h
short film
director: William Van Bavel
2026, Belgium
running time: 9 mins
Director: Amalie Atkins
2025, Canada
Dalton Distribution
Running time: 86 mins.
Language: Spoken language: EN. Subtitles: NL
De Cinema
Maarschalk Gérardstraat 4
2000 Antwerp
€9 standard
€6,5 reduction
Flanders Architecture Institute x De Cinema
the Government of Flanders
Need assistance or want to use extra facilities? Email tickets@destudio.com and they will be happy to help.
