To wait or provoke

The Salt Mines

October 1990 •English

Explores the lives of Sara, Gigi and Giovanna, three Latino transvestites who for years have lived on the streets of Manhattan supporting their drug addictions through prostitution. They made their temporary home inside broken garbage trucks that the Sanitation Department keeps next to the salt deposits used in the winter to melt the snow. The three friends share the place known as "The Salt Mines".

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks

September 2003 •Chinese

A detailed look at the gradual decline of Shenyang’s industrial Tiexi district, an area that was once a vibrant example of China’s socialist economy. But industry is changing, and the factories of Tiexi are closing. Director Wang Bing introduces us to some of the workers affected by the closures, and to their families.

Wild Lilly

July 2011 •Dutch

Lilly is nine years old and lives with her mother and brothers Robbin and Melvin in a squatter community deep in the woods.

Squatters: The Other Philadelphia Story

July 1984 •English

Discusses the squatters movement, made up of people who live in abandoned houses through necessity and in order to force change in housing policy. Focuses on Philadelphia, where Gloria Giles becomes a leader and gains a national reputation.

Kreuzberg gehört uns

January 1972 •German

With a critical eye, the film wanders through the streets of Kreuzberg and captures the voices of workers who report on their difficult working conditions and the lack of kindergartens. The film is the result of a collaboration between DFFB students and the Kreuzberg-Nord neighborhood group. It provides interesting insights into the struggles of the neighborhood group with the Senate for funds and rooms to accommodate the children.

The Sand Island Story

January 1981 •English

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.

How to Squash a Squat

January 1989 •English

1989, New York City's Alphabet City and East Village. A year after the Tompkins Square Park Riot, squatters and their community allies try to stop the demolition of their building after an arson. Police forces occupy the neighborhood while the demolition continues. A portrait of an East Village that is no more. An homage to the voices and sounds of a neighborhood before its gentrification.

Schade, daß Beton nicht brennt

May 1981 •German

A documentary about the clashes between squatters and the police in Berlin in early 1981. Despite the absence of commentary, this is an openly partisan film that aims less for political analysis than for an up-close description of the situation and mood.

In een tank kun je niet wonen

Invalid date •English

A documentary about “1980” in Amsterdam, by Jan Groen and Hanneke Willemse Documentary originally recorded on super 8 about the squatters' movement in Amsterdam

Hotel Mokum

March 2024 •Dutch

Pak Mokum Terug is the name of a group of Amsterdam activists that refuse to accept that the basic right to housing no longer appears to apply. The group’s name means “Take Back Amsterdam,” Mokum being the traditional nickname for a capital city in which today, for more and more people, a home is becoming unaffordable. Against this background, Hotel Mokum reports on the squatting of a dilapidated hotel in the city center, narrated in the voice of a fictitious activist.

Berlin Utopiekadaver

April 2024 •German

A taxi drives through the city of Berlin. Its driver is a punk, left and a well-known figure in the autonomous scene. The stations of his trip are the most important places of the autonomous scene: all in the struggle for survival. The last evictions have not yet been processed and the next ones are coming right up.

Un cafè a l'Hamsa

June 2004 •Catalan

De Kinderen van Møkum, en ik

September 2021 •Dutch

Documentary about a group of young idealistic friends in their squat in Amsterdam. Chased by the police and the press, they moved from squat to squat, with a clear message: don't make the city too expensive for the new generation of Amsterdammers. But living with such a large group and the flaws of the squat begin to take their toll. When the squatters collective falls apart halfway through the film, the filmmaker is left disillusioned and decides to confront the young squatters with her feelings of disappointment.

Squat 69

October 2007 •Danish

"For Sale! Including 500 violent stone throwers from Hell", was the message from the controversial squat 'Ungdomshuset' in Copenhagen, Denmark. The film takes a balanced look behind the barricades and follows the definitive last year in the life of the squatters before all was demolished in March 2007 and riots broke out in Copenhagen.

De Lente is Gratis

May 1999 •Dutch

Fever Dream Jan10

November 2024 •English

The Netherlands, a bastion of capitalism, has struggled with unprecedented housing crises since 2018. This brings a rise of different ideologies that challenge the dominant status quo. In the city of Nijmegen, an anarchist collective JAN10 battles the ongoing housing crisis by squatting empty buildings, which poses a threat to the established capitalist interests.

Amandastraße 73

January 1981 •German

Short-documentary about the squat at Amandastraße 73 in Hamburg.

Knust

January 2019 •English

This documentary traces the history of Knust, an independent printing press based in Nijmegen that is regarded as one of the pioneers of risography. Founded in 1984, Knust was part of the Nijmegen artists’ initiative that originated during the squat movement in the Netherlands, where self-publishing ignited the clash between anarchist politics and neo-liberal urban reforms.

Squatters

May 2014 •English

A wealthy couple from the Pacific Palisades discovers homeless young lovers have moved into their home.

What to Do in Case of Fire?

November 2001 •German

What To Do In Case of Fire? tells the humorous and touching story of six former creative anarchists who lived as house squatters in Berlin during its heyday in the 80s when Berlin was still an island in the middle of the former eastern Germany. At the end of the 80s they went their separate ways with the exception of Tim and Hotte, who have remained true to their ideals and continue to fight the issues they did as a group. In 2000, with Berlin as Germany's new capital, an event happens forcing the group out of existential reason to reunite and, ultimately, come to grips with the reason they separated 12 years ago.