Co-op Housing: The Best Move We Ever Made

Alternate Spaces

December 2022 •English

A short documentary on the River Ouse, following it downstream from Lewes to Newhaven, meditating on the surrounding area.

Citizen Jane: Battle for the City

April 2017 •English

Writer and urban activist Jane Jacobs fights to save historic New York City during the ruthless redevelopment era of urban planner Robert Moses in the 1960s.

Dreams

November 2021 •English

These are the future leaders of their communities. Ever wonder what it’s like to walk a day in their shoes? How the world looks through their eyes? We were curious. So, we asked them.

The heart of Caracas

November 2013 •Spanish

Caracas has been changing since the nineteenth century this is a story that tries to explain why the Venezuelan capital is complex, chaotic and fertile. In light of these new evidences, community experiments, social awareness and organization of people, seem to be the necessary ingredients to rescue a metropolis that is not yet completely lost.

Displaced Souls

February 2024 •Portuguese

Located in Carcavelos, Quinta Nova de Santo António, or Quinta dos Ingleses, as it is recognized by the population, shelters a small community of people affected by the housing crisis. Natives and immigrants, deprived of a roof over their heads, carry on with their lives in search of better opportunities and a breeze of change. Guided by residents' voices, this documentary is based on the adaptability of human beings in the face of life's adversities and their constant pursue of happiness.

World In A City

January 2016 •English

World in a City is a portrait of Toronto and the steps Torontonians are taking to create a society that welcomes and encourages new immigrants to flourish

The People of the Kattawapiskak River

October 2012 •English

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.

A Short History of the Highrise

September 2013 •English

“A Short History of the Highrise” is an interactive documentary that explores the 2,500-year global history of vertical living and issues of social equality in an increasingly urbanized world. The centerpiece of the project is four short films. The first three (“Mud,” “Concrete” and “Glass”) draw on The New York Times's extraordinary visual archives, a repository of millions of photographs that have largely been unseen in decades. Each film is intended to evoke a chapter in a storybook, with rhyming narration and photographs brought to life with intricate animation. The fourth chapter (“Home”) comprises images submitted by the public. The interactive experience incorporates the films and, like a visual accordion, allows viewers to dig deeper into the project’s themes with additional archival materials, text and microgames.

Megalópolis

November 2021 •Spanish

Exploration of the territory in a delirious time-space journey through the largest Megalopolis in America.

Snow Fighters

January 1957 •English

A close-up of a snow-bound city, and the men, money and machinery it takes to dig it out.

Brasília

January 2011 •Portuguese

Une certaine histoire du cinéma expérimental français

February 2019 •French

West Estate

January 2020 •

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.

Someone Lives Here

April 2023 •English

Chronicles the modern-day David and Goliath tale amidst North America's housing crisis. During the pandemic, Khaleel Seivwright, a young Toronto carpenter, builds life-saving shelters for unhoused people facing the winter outside. His actions attracted international acclaim but also staunch opposition from the city government, portraying a compelling narrative set against the backdrop of societal challenges and governmental resistance.

Amancio Williams

November 2013 •English

A biography documentary of the Argentine modernist architect Amancio Williams.

Rabble Rousers: Frances Goldin and the Fight for Cooper Square

December 2022 •English

In 1959 New York City announced a "slum clearance plan" by Robert Moses that would displace 2,400 working class and immigrant families, and dozens of businesses, from the Cooper Square section of Manhattan's Lower East Side. Guided by the belief that urban renewal should benefit - not displace - residents, Frances Goldin and her neighbors formed the Cooper Square Committee and launched a campaign to save the neighborhood. Over five decades they fought politicians, developers, white flight, government abandonment, blight, violence, arson, drugs, and gentrification - cyclical forces that have destroyed so many working class neighborhoods across the US. Through tenacious organizing and hundreds of community meetings, they not only held their ground but also developed a vision of community control. Fifty three years later, they established the state's first community land trust - a diverse, permanently affordable neighborhood in the heart of the "real estate capital of the world."

Losing Your Home

October 2024 •English

Too many stories can tell the horrible consequences of the housing crisis. Those of Jeannette and Frances make us feel the difficult experience of eviction. During long months of anguish, brief hopes and uprooting, Jeannette and Frances struggle, alone and surrounded, against a phenomenon that is becoming more and more pronounced: losing your home.

Berlin Ulysses

March 2024 •German

Successfully completed your studies - now what? Raffly already has a lucrative job offer from a large German company, but neither an apartment nor a work permit.

Fire, Clay & People

November 1942 •Swedish

A movie about the history of the Gustavsberg porcelain company.

Chairs for Lovers

January 1973 •English

Architect Stanley King involves the local Vancouver community in urban design.