‘My Mother the Architect’ Is a Cinematic Love Letter

Four decades after her mother left the family in New York to pursue a career as an architect in Israel, Yael Melamede, 57, decided to make a documentary about her.

“Ada: My Mother the Architect” is not what you might expect from that premise. It’s a film filled with love, admiration and appreciation for a woman who designed some of Israel’s most significant civic monuments, including the Supreme Court in Jerusalem (with her brother Ram Karmi), Ben Gurion Airport, the Open University of Israel and many more.

One would think that Yael would be a little resentful while portraying her mother Ada Karmi-Melamede, but the film is nothing but a love letter to the woman she admires the most.

The film follows Ada Karmi-Melamede, one of the most accomplished female architects in the world, beginning with her childhood in Israel as the daughter of Dov Karmi, a renowned architect and recipient of the Israel Prize for Architecture in 1957.

After Yael’s parents moved to the U.S. for her father’s job, Ada began teaching architecture at Columbia University in New York City, where Yael was born. For the next 15 years, Ada juggled academia, large-scale public projects and motherhood.

While at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, she worked on major urban initiatives, including a master plan for Con Edison, a study for mixed-use development along the proposed Second Avenue Subway and a 1978 housing competition on Roosevelt Island, all while raising three young children.

But in the early 1980s, after being denied tenure at Columbia, Ada made a bold decision: she left New York and her family for the opportunity of a lifetime to design Israel’s new Supreme Court building. While her career soared, the personal cost of being far from her family grew heavier.

Yael doesn’t clearly remember when her mother left for Israel. In a Zoom interview with The Journal, she guessed she might have been around 14 years old.

“She started going back to Israel more often,” Yael said. “Then she and my uncle were selected to compete in the contest to design the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. After she won, it became her work for six years, and by the time she finished, I was already in college.”

Getting her mother to participate in the documentary wasn’t easy. Ada was reluctant at first, and it’s clear while watching the film that she agreed mainly out of love for her daughter — and, of course, her enduring passion for architecture.

“I have so many clips of her saying, ‘This is a waste of your time and money.’ She was shut down. She didn’t want to do it,” said Yael. “She is very humble but I think that deep down she wanted there to be a record of some kind of what she had accomplished.”

Indeed, Ada becomes animated when discussing design, speaking in depth about buildings that are rooted in the ground and integrated into the landscape, versus modern glass structures that, in her view, lack heart, soul and character. “The role of architecture is to find connection between all the elements,” Ada says in one scene, seated behind her desk. “Because without common ground, we have no language.”

When it comes to more personal topics, however, she minces words. “Okay, Ima, shall we begin?” Yael asks at the start of the film. “What do you want to know?” Ada replies. 

“I want everyone to know that you love me.”

Ada laughs.

“A lot of people asked me how was it like to be left alone, but I had a lot of support,” said Yael. “I wasn’t alone. My father was around and my siblings were in the same country. While working on the film, I realized how alone she was. She was away from us. We at least had each other.”

Yael, who studied architecture before deciding to pursue a career in film, is an accomplished producer and director. In 2013, a short film she produced, “Inocente,” won the Oscar for Documentary Short Subject. Still, it was difficult for her to find a festival that would accept her documentary which was filmed mainly in Israel.

“We didn’t have an easy experience on the festival circuits,” she said. “It was a really hard time for the distribution of independent films, but especially for an Israeli film. Since Oct. 7, we haven’t been accepted into any festivals in Europe. However, there are wonderful architecture festivals that accepted the film and the response was great wherever we screened it.”

A few months ago, the film was finally picked up for commercial distribution — first at the Angelika Theater in New York and next at the Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles, where it will open on May 15. Screenings are also planned in San Francisco, Connecticut and Florida.

Ada is 89 years old but still works. She is clear-minded, active and still goes to her office in Tel Aviv.  In 2007 she was awarded the Israel Prize for architecture, just like her father and brother before her. She was the second woman awarded this prize.

Despite the fact that the two are living in separate continents for most of their lives, Yael said they are very close. “I think we have such an unusual relationship in terms of mutual respect. My editor said that at one time. I thought it was beautiful. I wanted to do this film for her and she wanted to do it for me.” 

Yael experienced a devastating tragedy near the end of filming; her only son, Niv, who had Type 1 diabetes, passed away at the age of 22. “He was an amazing young man and very close to my mom,” she said. “There’s a picture of them together at the end of the credits.”

After being accepted to his dream college in Chicago, Niv chose to take a gap year in Israel, where he developed a deep connection to the country and spoke fluent Hebrew.

His illness inspired Melamede to produce “Pay or Die,” a documentary about diabetes and the reliance on insulin. Though Niv rarely spoke about his condition, the project allowed Melamede to raise awareness in a way that respected his privacy. Tragically, Niv passed away a month and a half after the film premiered.

Yael directed and produced “Ada: My Mother the Architect,” but also takes part in it. She admitted she didn’t plan on it, but it happened naturally, which makes the film all that much more personal and beautiful. This is not only a film about Ada the architect and the buildings she designed in Israel; it’s also a film about a relationship between a mother and daughter.

After completing the film, Yael held a private screening for her mother. “I turned to her and asked: ‘So, what do you think? She looked at me with astonishment and said: ‘I can’t believe it’s not boring.’”

Director Yael Melamede will participate in a Q&A at the Monica Film Center following the 10:00 A.M. screening on Saturday, May 17.