The opening of the festival is scheduled for Thursday 9th evening at 9.00 pm and from Friday 10th screenings will be starting everyday at 1 pm, going on until Midnight.

On schedule, spectators will be given the opportunity to see auteur film, biographical narrative, as well as investigations and poetic visions, complaint works and discoveries of monumental works that are little known by non experts.

Buildings, products, stories and thoughts that hide any form of creativity and expressivity are told, explained and sometimes novelized, giving spectators back not just what they are – either an object or a building – but their genesis and their relationship with the historical, social and economic context.

Opening the festival is the Cathedrals of Culture project, curated by Wim Wenders (the next Honorary Golden Bear 2015) that was presented on 64th Berlinale in the early 2014. The six buildings introduced and directed by six different directors, propose a full immersion from the point of view of film – movies are shot in 3D – and in terms of choice of the buildings, that are first-person narrators of their stories and their lives.

So you visit the spaces of Berliner Philarmonie (Wim Wenders), to move among the rooms and archives of Russische Nationalbibliothek based in Saint Petersburg (Michael Glawogger) and to go beyond the gates of Norwegian model prison Haftanstalt Halden (Michael Madsen). To walk among Salk Institute Californian buildings (Robert Redford) or to be spectator of Opernhaus in Oslo (Margret Olin). And at last to follow the development of a whole day inside Centre Pompidou in Paris (Karim Ainouz). The film is distributed in Italy by I Wonder Pictures and it will be showing in theatres thanks to the collaboration with UnipolBiografilmCollection and together with Sky 3D it will be possible to see it on television.

MDFF also aims at becoming a new “rendez-vous” for Italian design and new thematic Italian productions. During the four days event, works of young film makers will be introduced. These filmmakers have developed their short films thinking about the festival.

They tell about the birth of industrial design, of the big collaborations of designers with enlightened companies, the transformation of homes and domestic environments, new generation objects and furnishing accessories.

These key transformation signs are the topics of MDFF 2014 program. From Love till I die by Michele Bonechi, who describes Fabio Novembre’s world, to Sette miliardi about Andrea Branzi and A casa di Carla. Un interno italiano about Giulio Iacchetti's work, both by Max Rommel; from Design is One. Lella and Massimo Vignelli by Kathy Brew and Roberto Guerra, to the amateur filming of the conference held by Achille Castiglioni at International Design Conference of Aspen in 1989 and recovered by Flos for MDFF.

Up to the interview to Ettore Sotsass, published in the Design Interviews series at Anna Pitscheider’s Alessi Museum. Also, on schedule, the documentary movie Dove vivono gli architetti by Francesca Molteni and Davide Pizzigoni. Eight stories about eight international architects such as: Shigeru Ban, Mario Bellini, David Chipperfield, Massimiliano e Doriana Fuksas, Zaha Hadid, Marcio Kogan, Daniel Libeskind, Studio Mumbai, Bijoy Jain.

The video-documentary Domus Voices – A Map of Urban Sentiment will be projected during the Festival. The film recounts a human landscape of Milan, a map of urban sentiment plotted out by famous interpreters of architecture, art and design who were asked by Domus to share their impressions and visions of life in the city. The resulting unusual perspective pertains to Milan, but can be seen in a broader way as pertaining to all cities. Architects will be reminded of the importance of designing in a people-centred way, with creativity and sensitivity – a message that comes across with empathetic force, carried by the immediacy of the video's cinematographic language.

In an additional homage to the city of Milan, where both Domus and the Milano Design Film Festival have their roots, Domus will present Domus Voices – Sites and Itineraries, a series of seven short excerpts from Domus Voices – A Map of Urban Sentiment. In this video, architects, designers and other professionals such as Alessandro Mendini, Patricia Urquiola, Manolo de Giorgi and Elio Fiorucci reveal their favourite Milanese spots and tell anecdotes about their own private side of the city.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, workshops and conversations with lecturers and international cinema and architecture experts are scheduled. These institutions will take part to the conferences: Accademia di architettura di Mendrisio - Università della Svizzera Italiana, Image di Marco Brizzi, SAE Institute Milano, Sky arte HD, Ultrafragola Channels.

The final evening – on Sunday October 12th – will welcome Lorenzo Palmeri, designer and musician, that will present his latest album erbamatta with a preview of his Memorie Selettive video and a live set.