Kino inak A4 x DAFilms: Housing rights:  Story from a Housing Estate / Beijing Ants / The Plan / Dwelling (online)

In the February online program of Kino inak A4*, which was created with the kind support of the DAFilms portal, we focus on the housing crisis. During the ongoing pandemic, the problem of homelessness and in/accessible housing has become more pressing. While the population is ordered to hide at home / isolate, some have not had this option for months or years. Prices of flats and their rents are constantly rising.

The films we have selected for the February series address the topic of housing inaccessibility, forced evictions and the rise of housing prices in various parts of the world from different perspectives. Is housing a right, a privilege or a struggle? How can we prevent homelessness?

“Everyone needs and deserves to live. But our homes are transformed into commodities, commodified, further accentuating the inequalities between those who inhabit cities. Profit is much more important today than social needs. The poor are forced to pay more for worse and worse housing. Urban communities are at risk of eviction and gentrification violence, and the benefits of good housing are available only to those who can afford them,” writes David Madden and Peter Marcus in In Defense of Housing.

During February, we will offer you a series of seven films (five feature-length and two short ones), which will be available until the end of the month. The series will end with an online discussion with experts dealing with the topic of housing inaccessibility.

*The online program of Kino inak A4 was created in cooperation with the DAFilms portal. The programmers of Kino Inak A4 have prepared a thematic series of six films, which you can watch through the DAFilms platform.

Thanks to our cooperation, you can support our empty cinema by watching a film from this database – by purchasing a ticket (€ 1.50-€ 2.50 or for free) and watching the film via the link on A4.sk 

You will be rewarded with a carefully curated program and an accompanying discussion with experts on the topic at the end of the month. 

Selected films:

Story from a Housing Estate [Panelstory aneb Jak se rodí sídliště / r. Věra Chytilová / 1979 / Czech Republic / Czech with English subtitles]

The portrait of the new Prague housing estate Jižní Město was shot by Chytilová at a time when she was struggling with being able to work as a non-conforming filmmaker in in the totalitarian regime. Chytilova’s characters experienced pathologies sometimes with playfulness, sometimes with fear in the scenery of a large-capacity housing being built. The housing estate, exposed pipelines and unpaved areas and hills of the soil are not only elements of scenography, but they decompose and amplify the temporary and problematic survival of characters that reflect a poorly chosen life path or the bleakness of their situation. Chytilova’s handwriting is underlined by disturbing camera movements, observation of the ugliness of a construction site, and work with non-actors.

You can watch the film here: https://a4.sk/kino2/ / € 2.50

Beijing Ants [Beijing Mayi / r. Ryuji Otsuka / 2014 / China / Chinese with English subtitles]

The veristic report on the Otsuk family, filmed by hand-held and hidden cameras, is a diary of vicissitudes and problems in finding (and maintaining) housing in Beijing, where the price of an apartment per square meter in 2013 reached $ 10,000. The young family is constantly confronted with the increase in rent, despite the owner’s initial promises. Moving several flats, fast-growing skyscrapers, a crying child, violent quarrels with the exploiting owner and disturbing the night’s peace.

You can watch the film here: https://a4.sk/kino2/  / € 2.50

The Plan [Plán / r. Benjamin Tuček / 2014 / Czech Republic / Czech with English subtitles]

How does life in the city affect the zoning plan and its changes? In a precisely prepared journalistic document, Tuček reveals the clash of interests of developers, lobbyists, the corruption, vague promises of city deputies and a sincere effort to improve the common public space on the other side of the barricade. It thus provides a multi-layered picture – disclosing why the city does not serve its inhabitants but the capitalist intentions of investors.

You can watch the film here: https://a4.sk/kino2/ / € 2.50

Dwelling [Qī jū rú shī / r. Yuan Goang-Ming / 2014 / Taiwan / no spoken word]

The harmony of home and its sudden destruction are the subject of a short experimental film by the Taiwanese pioneer of video art, Yuan Goang-Ming.

You can watch the film here: https://a4.sk/kino2/ / € 1.50