The first documentary film of The Radicals on the burning topic of free space, entitled “Commons and the Housing Crisis in Berlin” that I shot and worked on during the last two years, is out now!
In 2021, I was invited by two female talents to join this production – commissioned by Guerrilla Foundation – as a Cinematographer and Creative Director. How do you sustain a project of only a few resources, but a huge demand to portray a topic that already has its own history? Every independent creative knows what it takes to drive a project forward despite all odds, just because we see its purpose and impact to the bigger picture. In our case, we were only contributing to that picture with a new perspective, but little we knew what was ahead of us. 2022 was the epitome of a crisis avalanche worldwide and in many personal lives. Holding this production together meant to remind ourselves what it means to be human. So much conflict comes up in the lack of ideal scenarios, but it’s in bringing us back in integrity that we remember why we took the ride in the first place.
The perks of a non-linear film production was that, it allowed life serendipities to “send” us the right people and material to tell this story. In my role as a Creative Director, I stumbled into what would become the entire soundtrack of the film when I discovered “EVICTION SONGS” instigated by Zorka Wollny, a collection of works by musicians who are involved in fighting the dramatic change of the Berlin landscape. The song that opens the film “Keine Wohnungsnot Mehr!” (No More Housing Shortage!) was originally made by August Conradi in 1873 (!) at the collapse of the industrial revolution in Berlin – a striking reminder of how fitting such song still is, 150 years later.
Every song in the film became an integral part of the message we aimed to come across. To notice the collectiveness in the efforts of tackling the problematic of free space and the right to housing in our research, deeply inspired us to continue the work.
As our producer Teresa Lorena Machado writes in the official release page:
“(…) This short doc is a gift to Berlin so that we can continue to fertilise our resistance. It is an imprint of a city that is critical and ready to fight back the logics of a system that continuously ensures victories for the same groups in society. It aims to pay tribute to the rad, dissenting, and vitally important culture that make cities diverse, exciting, accessible and free spirited.”