On 6 May, we screened Le chantier des gosses (1970) by Jean Harlez. It’s set in the popular Brussels neighbourhood the Marolles, a playground for kids which is threatened by demolition and “city development”. The fallow land which is regarded as useless by city planners is in fact a breeding ground for mischief and creativity. Bricks, wood and cables lying around in the sand serve as material for forts, carts or weapons to fend off the surveyors. This week, we’ve selected three films that each in their own way challenge the ideal of urban renewal.
In the nineties, another neighbourhood of Brussels was demolished, this time to make room for the new buildings of the European Union. The city moults in order to become the heart of Europe, while the inhabitants are displaced, trading their common history for “the bigger picture”. In La dernière (s)cène ou l’évangile selon Saint-Boris (1995), Boris Lehman invites his friends and fellow filmmakers for a “Last Supper,” announcing that “one of you is going to betray me.”
In Blight, John Smith weaves a history from memories of people who lived in the houses that are being demolished. Smith edits the smallest recollections of rooms and spaces into an orchestration in which the anchoring in a community, in a locality, is being wiped out by the construction of a highway. The future speeds its way right through the heart of a neighbourhood.
Through Věra Chytilová’s dynamic and boisterous editing, the lives of the residents of new housing projects are juxtaposed with excavators and crushing bulldozers. Square concrete blocks are hanging above their heads, like swords of Damocles. In their chaotic lives, conformity is always lurking. Ploughing with their buggies through the sand and mud, they carve out a future for themselves as settled housewives, and absent fathers. An old man worries about a lonely lady and cares about a wandering boy, but is being told time and time again: “Why don’t you mind your own business?”
Blight (John Smith, 1996) is available on Doc Alliance.
Panelstory aneb Jak se rodí sídliste [Prefab Story] (Věra Chytilová, 1979) is available on Doc Alliance.
Boris Lehman was so kind to grant us permission to present his film La dernière (s)cène ou l’évangile selon Saint-Boris (1995) this week on Sabzian. You can find the film below.
Film Pages
