Rua dos Lagares

Empire City(en)

A film essay contrasting the modern metropolis with its "golden age" from 1830-1930, with the participation of some of New York's leading political and cultural figures. Made at a time when the city was experiencing unprecedented real estate development on the one hand and unforeseen displacement of population and deterioration on the other. Empire City is the story of two New Yorks. The film explores the precarious coexistence of the service-based midtown Manhattan corporate headquarters with the peripheral New York of undereducated minorities living in increasing alienation.

I Am Gentrification. Confessions of a Scoundrel(de)

Is the city of Zurich suffering from ‘density stress’? What is it like to live in mega cities such as São Paulo, Mexico City and Tiflis? Filmmaker Thomas Haemmerli broaches the topics of city development, architecture, density, housing market, xenophobia and gentrification from an autobiographical perspective. The path of his life has led him from a childhood in the villa district of Zürichberg, through his teenage years as squatter to flat shares, yuppie apartments and finally second homes in various cities. Only recently having become a dad, he plans to further enhance Zurich’s price appreciation by purchasing a huge, extended city apartment… This multifaceted essay not only humorously questions the filmmaker’s decisions, but also those of the right-wing conservatives, who are afraid of losing their space to immigrants, and the political left, who fail to embrace modern-age architecture.

EVERYTHING MUST GO(en)

In a city consumed by gentrification, artist João Fiadeiro and the company he keeps postpone and embrace the end at the house they inhabited for the last decades. By vacating, they occupy; by disbanding, they stay together; by celebrating, they reclaim a 30-year-old project from disaffected national politics. What remains when everything must go? How does one keep on?

Quartiers sous tension(fr)

Flag Wars(en)

Filmed over four years, this documentary focuses on the impacts of gentrification as gay white professionals move into a largely black working-class neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio.

Cruel Architecture, a Tool of Gentrification(en)

A short documentary shot in November 2021 in Berkeley. It reflects on the ethos of privatization in American culture and how public spaces are being built to exclude people through cruel architecture. The context used is the gentrification circle around the University of California Berkeley intended to build student housing. An eye-opening journey that explores structures and elements you would never have stopped at.

Fading Frequencies(el)

In the dilapidated industrial buildings in Upper Ladadika or in the wider area of Valaoritou in Thessaloniki, bands and creators flourished for over four decades. Rooftops, music studios and rehearsal halls with the decibels turned up created the space and time for a continuous explosion of cultural action, personal and collective expression. Through the eyes of the musicians and individuals who continue to shape the city's underground music scene, we see how all this creative expression is increasingly threatened by the ongoing process of displacement due to gentrification. We discuss Thessaloniki, music, the future and the resistance that can be born.

The Iron Triangle: Willets Point and the Remaking of New York(en)

Targeted for several failed redevelopment plans dating back to the days of Robert Moses, Willets Point, a gritty area in New York City known as the “Iron Triangle,” is the home of hundreds of immigrant-run, auto repair shops that thrive despite a lack of municipal infrastructure support. During the last year of the Bloomberg Administration, NYC’s government advanced plans for a “dynamic” high-end entertainment district that would completely wipe out this historic industrial core. The year is 2013, and the workers of Willets Point are racing against the clock to forestall their impending eviction. Their story launches an investigation into New York City’s history as the front line of deindustrialization, urban renewal, and gentrification.

There Goes the Neighborhood(en)

An extended Black family living in View Park-Windsor Hills, California experience changes due to gentrification and reflect on their shifting community.

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."

Seattle Freeway Revolt(en)

In the 1950s, Seattle had plans to build one of the densest networks of freeways in the world. It would have displaced thousands, especially the poor and people of color. Over the next two decades, a broad coalition of communities came together and halted these plans. Testimonies from that era are juxtaposed with interviews of activists who participated in the revolt, giving a picture of what Seattle could have been had the people not stood up to the highway lobby and their representatives.

Ramps to Nowhere(en)

A film about the cross coalition of communities that stopped a planned network of freeways from being built in Seattle in the late 60s and early 70s. It weaves together archival material with the filmmaker's personal narrative about living next to freeways, and features interviews with participants from the freeway revolt.

Mijn Noord(nl)

The working-class Tuindorp Nieuwendam neighborhood in Amsterdam-Noord is like a village within the city. Many natives of the Northern Netherlands still live in the characteristically built houses, a unique variation on the Amsterdam School. With humor and Amsterdam directness, they share their stories about what's happening in their lives and in the neighborhood. Recently, a new generation of residents has also discovered the Noord district. How do residents view these changes and the neighborhood's transformation? Was everything better in the past, or are new connections emerging between residents, old and new?

Harry Smith at the Breslin Hotel(en)

The 94-year-old Robert Frank’s unique recordings of his fellow artists Harry Smith and Allen Ginsberg, which he had salvaged from his own archive for Harry Smith at the Breslin Hotel.

Moving Day(en)

Moving Day tells the story of the people who were left outside – quite literally – during a global pandemic. With the rise of Covid-19, shelters closed, jobs were lost, and homelessness in "Victoria B.C." (unceded L'kwungen Territories), swelled. A community formed in the city’s biggest park and as they learn of an ambitious plan to house everyone by March 31, 2021, uncertainty in the park, and in their lives mounts.

We Came to Sweat(en)

Facing eviction the oldest black-owned gay bar in Brooklyn relies on a passionate community in its fight for survival.

The Sand Island Story(en)

This short documentary chronicles a four-month period between 1979 and 1980 when residents of Hawaii's Sand Island "squatter" community attempted to resist eviction from the Honolulu shoreline - resulting in displacement, arrests, and the destruction of a community.

Dear Little Haiti(es)

A love letter to a place that will forever be home, a visual ode, and a farewell to a neighborhood that is rapidly changing due to the forces of gentrification and Miami’s housing crisis.

The Little Ancestor(xx)

An ancestral house builds itself, comes to life, and shows us its story spanning one hundred fifty years. Through the ages, it allows us to perceive the passage of time.

El apagón: Aquí vive gente(es)

“El apagón: Aquí vive gente” is a 23-minute film that explores the socio-economic challenges in Puerto Rico, focusing on the effects of power outages and gentrification driven by the real estate and energy sectors. Through visuals and personal stories, the documentary highlights the experiences of Puerto Rican communities facing these issues.