PUSHBACK Talks
Landlords without faces, apartments without tenants. In 2019, filmmaker Fredrik Gertten released Push, an award-winning documentary that explores the unaffordable, unlivable city, and the growing global housing crisis. Following the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha, the film sought to understand why cities around the world are becoming increasingly expensive.
In June of 2020, Fredrik and Leilani teamed up again to continue the conversation they began with the film, and PUSHBACK Talks was born. Since then, PUSHBACK Talks has grown into an exploration of the social, political, and economic forces that shape our world, and of the actions people are taking to push back against inequality, corruption, authoritarian systems, poverty, war, and the shift towards far-right conservatism.
Join the Filmmaker (Gertten) and the Advocate (Farha) as they dissect these topics, uncover the connections between them, and search for solutions. How can we, as individuals, movements, and communities, fight back – push back – to build societies where every human being has the right to live equally, freely, and with dignity?
Listen to PUSHBACK Talks and join the conversation for a better, fairer world.
For more about PUSH and to view it: www.pushthefilm.com
For more about Leilani Farha and her organization, The Shift: www.make-the-shift.org
For more about Fredrik Gertten and his other films: www.wgfilm.com
If you are interested in watching his newest documentary: www.breakingsocialfilm.com
PUSHBACK Talks
Post Crises Croatia - Curbing Touristification and Investor Domination
A year later than originally planned, Fredrik is finally in Zagreb to screen Push the film across the country! The Filmmaker and the Advocate seize the opportunity to take the podcast on the road. In conversation with architect and activist Iva Marčetić, Fredrik and Leilani discuss the unique situation in Croatia, where the government is the biggest landlord in the country but owns just 2% of the housing stock. Even without large corporations buying up properties, the use of property as financial capital is impacting housing value and resulting in displacement. Like so many other cities around the world, in the pre-pandemic period Zagreb was subject to a whopping 30% annual growth of Airbnb properties, causing rents to jump by 11% per year or more and forcing people out of city centres, in to the suburbs.
And what of the pandemic? Housing prices continue to soar. The selling off of public lands to private actors who use it to leverage more capital rather than provide for local economies has become common. And in a place where the poor have historically had high homeownership, there is a strong need for regulatory legislation and protections for tenants to stem the rising tide of financialization. Croatians ARE pushing back. The question is, will their resistance influence the Mayoral election in Zagreb and politics beyond?
Iva Marčetić is a member of Pravona Grad, Right to the city.
Produced by WG Film
Recorded & Edited by Mikey Jones
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Social Media & Support Team - Maja Moberg, Valerie Estrina, Hanna Leander