“Who owns what? And why?” Despite their apparent simplicity, these questions strike at the heart of the disparities and violences that mark the contemporary city. Raised by the architecture studio Brandlhuber and the artist Christopher Roth, they also summarize neatly the work on display: a single-channel video entitled The Property Drama.

Through stylishly-shot footage and Godard-esque titling, the film probes the ways that “property is used as a means of control.” In it, the filmmakers juxtapose a wide variety of responses and positions from various figures in architecture, urban design, and politics. Patrik Schumacher advocates for full privatization while Phyllis Lambert declares that “the land belongs to everyone.”

The second film in a trilogy, The Property Drama follows Legislating Architecture, which premiered at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennial and looked at the “ways that legislation—from building codes to zoning laws—create new design approaches and responses that challenge the legislation from within.” It will be followed by From Architect to Politician.

Despite representing a wide range of voices, the film isn’t quiet about its politics—something that feels refreshing in a Biennial that largely tends to privilege formal aspects of history over sociopolitical and economic.

At the same time, there is a powerful poetic quality that pervades the film. “Even though we realize the hell that surrounds us we cherish the contingency and possibilities of the moment,” the filmmakers state. “And we do believe in the sensuous world before us that will never disappear.”