Who would have thought that a movie about building a huge warehouse could be so much fun? Okay, it’s not really a warehouse; it’s the “depot” of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, which stores 150,000 works of art and is open to the public as a museum. Inaugurated in 2021, the structure looks like a shiny silver teacup from the outside, and it has garnered objections and criticism as well as praise.

The shared vision of architect Winy Maas and Boijmans director Sjarel Ex, who dreamed of establishing a warehouse-museum, resulted in the Depot – a building like no other in any big city around the world. The film traces the fulfillment of that dream using colorful cinematic language. The director’s love for shapes and colors is transmitted to viewers, resulting in a mesmerizing combination of art, architecture, and cinema. Beyond that, the film conveys in an authentic way what many architects and artists feel: that their work is the most significant undertaking in the world.