For Yona Friedman, utopia is something that can be achieved.
Environmental activists in France managed to defend the zone for protection and implement a local utopia.
They, at least, had a choice. Some regions of the globe have none. Neither do Kofi and Larte from Ghana, who daily "choose" the work at toxic landfills. These landfills are seamlessly sponsored by the "first world".
One of the festival focuses is a selection of nontypical films on environmental topics.
60 Elephants. Episodes of a Theory
Sasha Pirker
Austria / 2018, 22 min
In 60 Elephants, Michael Klein and Sasha Pirker portray the thoughts and work of Yona Friedman, a ninety-five-year-old French architect and humanist who was awarded the Friedrich Kiesler prize in 2018. Friedman developed visions of an improvisation-capable, mobile architecture for a migrating global society as early as the 1950s and 1960s. His remarks on the current refugee issue, which are presented in the film, reveal his considerate and unagitated way of thinking oriented on social needs and their sensible fulfillment.
Everything’s coming together while everything’s falling apart: The ZAD
Oliver Ressler
Austria / 2017, 37 min
The film on the ZAD focuses on Europe’s largest autonomous territory, located close to Nantes in France. The ZAD (zone to defend) emerged from the struggle against a new airport. In 2012 the French state's attempt to evict the zone was fiercely resisted by more than 40,000 people. The police have not set foot there since. Today 250 people in 60 collectives live permanently at the ZAD occupying the wetlands, fields and forests. The ZAD is a successful example of the way resistance and the creation of alternatives need to happen at the same time. While people take back control over their lives with self organized bakeries, workshops, a brewery, medicinal herb gardens, a rap studio, weekly newspaper and a library, they hinder the construction of an unnecessary, ecologically disastrous airport project. The film is built around a group discussion with activists living at the ZAD.
“Everything's coming together while everything's falling apart: The ZAD” is part of Oliver Ressler’s ongoing project “Everything's coming together while everything's falling apart” that follows the struggles against a fossil fuel-dependent economy.
Kofi and Lartey
Sasha Rainbow
France, Ghana, UK / 2018, 20 min
Agbogbloshie has been dubbed one of the most toxic places on earth, but dig a little deeper and it's filled with wonderful people and their beautiful stories. Here we meet Kofi and Lartey, two inseparable young boys who when given the tools to tell their own stories begin to dream of a life beyond the electronic waste dump.