Housing against Everyone

There Is a Beautiful Birth Place, But...(en)

An abstract film consists of static shots of a small house-like being demolished through temporal ellipsis.

The People of the Kattawapiskak River(en)

Alanis Obomsawin’s documentary The People of the Kattawapiskak River exposes the housing crisis faced by 1,700 Cree in Northern Ontario, a situation that led Attawapiskat’s band chief, Theresa Spence, to ask the Canadian Red Cross for help. With the Idle No More movement making front page headlines, this film provides background and context for one aspect of the growing crisis.

Clash on Keefer(en)

Chronicling the events surrounding the protests generated by the proposed redevelopment of an empty lot at 105 Keefer St., located at the heart of Vancouver's Chinatown.

Trespassing or Close Encounters of the 3rd World(pt)

West Estate(cn)

West Estate spotlights the severe housing problems in Hong Kong, taking the spirit of resistance outside of the protest. The damaged walls in the cage-like tenements reflect the many forms of social injustice as well as Hongkongers’ widespread sense of rootlessness. Connecting three stories from different households like puzzle pieces, the film depicts people’s despair over issues of family, sexuality, love, and freedom.

The Bubble(en)

Diving deep into the true causes of the Great Recession, the financial crisis of the 2010s, renowned economists, investors and business leaders explain what America is facing if we don't learn from our past mistakes. Is the economy really improving or are we just blowing up another Bubble?

A ház(hu)

Chicago at the Crossroad(en)

While gun violence was on the decline in most major US cities, why did it continue to increase in Chicago's segregated communities? What is known about the systems that created the problem, the laws that isolated it, and the policies that abandoned it? Using dramatic footage, including interviews with residents on the front lines over the last 15 years, this documentary opens a rare historical window into the systematic creation of poverty stricken communities plagued by gun violence. 

Dandara: Enquanto Morar for um Privilégio, Ocupar é um Direito(pt)

The Mobilized Generation(en)

A short documentary chronicling the coming-of-age story of generation z punctuated by numerous culturally significant moments, known as period effects, that have bred a generation of young activists.

Arkansas: The Worst Place to Rent in America(en)

"Arkansas is one of the worst places to be a renter in America. It is the only state in the US where tenants are treated as criminals for paying rent late and landlords are not required by law to maintain their properties. "Its failure-to-vacate law lets landlords give tenants a 10-day eviction notice if they are even one day overdue. Tenants who can't or won't leave within that span face fines for every day they remain on the property and up to 90 days in jail. "This makes things difficult for the third of Arkansas's residents who are renters and have legitimate concerns about the properties they are occupying. The combination of failure-to-vacate and the lack of warranty of habitability make it almost impossible for tenants to challenge their landlords for legitimate reasons. It's estimated that criminal evictions occur everyday in Arkansas, resulting in over 2000 failure-to-vacate cases being filed each year."

Co-op Housing: The Best Move We Ever Made(en)

Canada is facing a housing crisis, and cooperative housing might be a part of the solution.

The Changing Face Of Salford Collection(en)

Between 1968 and 1970, J M Goodger, a lecturer at the University of Salford, made a film record of the living conditions in the slums of Ordsall, Salford, which were then in the process of being demolished. Under the title 'The Changing face of Salford', the film was in two parts: 'Life in the slums' and 'Bloody slums'.

Chronique d'une crise(fr)

Evicted City(fr)

Montreal — one of the few remaining affordable cities in North America — is now in the midst of an unprecedented housing crisis. An intimate portrait of socio-political resistance, this multilayered film explores the human impact of real estate speculation on the cities of tomorrow.

Disco'd(en)

“Set against the rattle of shopping carts and the white noise of L.A. traffic... “Disco’d” is an unvarnished, moving look at the lives affected by the rising crisis of homelessness.” —Los Angeles Times

The Castillos' Story HERA Housing and Economic Rights Advocates(en)

Housing and Economic Rights Advocates (HERA) is a California statewide, not-for-profit legal service and advocacy organization. HERA’s mission is to ensure that all people are protected from discrimination and economic abuses, especially in the realm of housing. HERA focuses particularly on the needs of those who are most vulnerable, which includes lower-income people, the elderly, immigrants, people of color and people with disabilities.

What You’ll Remember(en)

Homelessness in the United States takes many forms. For Elizabeth Herrera, David Lima and their four children, housing instability has meant moving between unsafe apartments, motels, relatives’ couches, shelters, the streets and their car. After 15 years of this uncertainty, the family moved into their first stable housing — an apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area — in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Neighbor by Neighbor: Mobilizing an Invisible Community in Lewiston, Maine(en)

In the summer of 2004, the Mayor of Lewiston, Maine announced a plan to develop a four-lane boulevard across downtown's low-income neighborhood. This project was called "The Heritage Initiative." Contrary to its name, this plan was going to eliminate the downtown's heritage by displacing 850 people from their homes as well as destroy playgrounds, vegetable gardens, and historic buildings. Moving residents out of the city and improving traffic flow was at the heart of this proposal... It was 1960's Urban Renewal all over again. As tragic as the circumstances were, the threat of a road destroying the neighborhood required residents to rise to the challenge of becoming *community organizers. This movie documents 5 years of development and community organizing in Lewiston. It's an exceptional story about the people of Lewiston, but it's also a universal story about the challenges faced by many urban neighborhoods across the United States.

This is our house!(de)

Appropriating spaces with the Tenement Syndicate. The film "This is our house!" explains the solidarity-based model of the Tenement Syndicate (syndikat.org), which enables financially weak groups to secure affordable spaces in common ownership on a sustainable basis.