Seventeen buildings by 20th century Italian civil-engineer Pier Luigi Nervi are shown, sometimes interrupted by studies of large Roman structures. The film relates Nervi’s path-breaking constructions with the pioneering Roman inventions in his field 2000 years ago.

The first film in his Decampment of Modernism series, Parabeton makes for a striking introduction to the architectural studies of Heinz Emigholz. Free from narration, the purposeful sound design and judicious compositions are free to assert their patient rhythms to cumulatively meaningful ends.