Official Trailer for ‘ADA: My Mother the Architect’ Documentary Film

Official Trailer for ‘ADA: My Mother the Architect’ Documentary Film

by Alex Billington
March 20, 2025
Source: YouTube

“The role of architecture is to find connections between all the elements.” An official trailer has debuted for a biopic documentary film titled ADA: My Mother the Architect, profiling the fractured life and work of the acclaimed architect Ada Karmi Melamede. Most people don’t know her name & likely won’t recognize her work. Ada – My Mother the Architect is a deeply moving portrait of an extraordinary woman directed by her daughter, filmmaker and former architect Yael Melamede. This explores the profound tension between career & motherhood, as well as a unique mother-daughter bond. Ada Karmi Melamede is one of the most accomplished female architects in the world, but very little is known about her outside her home country of Israel. Ada is a true pioneer who, like many successful working mothers of her time, was forced to make impossible choices. Ada says: “There are buildings that have roots… You sense that this attachment is a very important part of the architectural thinking because these buildings belong to the place.” It’s a fascinating profile of a profound architect, while also an intimate exploration of the special relationship with her family.

Here’s the official trailer for Yael Melamede’s doc ADA: My Mother the Architect, direct from YouTube:

Ada Karmi-Melamede is one of the most accomplished female architects, yet her work remains largely unrecognized beyond architectural circles. In the 1970s, she moved to New York from Israel, following her husband’s rising career, and spent the next 15 years balancing academia, large-scale public projects, and motherhood. While teaching at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, she contributed to major urban initiatives, including a master plan for Con Edison, a study for mixed-use development along the proposed Second Ave Subway, and a 1978 housing competition on Roosevelt Island—all while raising three youthful children. In the 1980s, after being denied tenure at Columbia, Ada made a bold decision to leave New York & her family for the opportunity of a lifetime – the design of the modern Supreme Court of Israel. While her career flourished, personal sacrifices mounted while away from her family. ADA: My Mother the Architect is directed by filmmaker Yael Melamede, Ada’s daughter, director of the other doc films (Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies and Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely. Produced by Hilla Medalia and Yael Melamede. This initially premiered at the 2024 Jerusalem Film Festival last year. Salty Features will release ADA: My Mother the Architect in select US theaters (at the Angelika Film Center in NYC) on May 9th, 2025, with more cities to follow in May. For more info visit the film’s official site. Who’s curious?

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