A început ploaia/It started raining is the first feature documentary about forced evictions against Roma people in Bucharest, Romania. The film document the full history of these evictions, as well as showing the powerful resistance enacted by a community of Roma who dwelt on the street for two years in order to fight for their right to housing. The documentary can be watched and downloaded for free below and on Vimeo. It is offered as a political tool to elicit debates and solidarity around the fight for the right to housing worldwide.
Romania and UK, 2017
English, Hungarian, Czech and Italian subtitles (activated by pressing CC on the player).
RESEARCH
The documentary is the result of more than two years of video-ethnographic work around forced evictions against Roma people in Bucharest, Romania. The director, Dr Michele Lancione, is an urban ethnographer working at the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield (UK). If at first his involvement with the Vulturilor 50 community was solely of activist nature, with the passing of time he started to work with them (and the cohort of activists involved in the resistance) on a more profound basis, sharing means and ideas. This eventually led to the production of activist-oriented video and, then, to the realisation of the documentary. Michele is part of the grassroots group FCDL (Common Front for the Right to Housing), which fights alongside evicted communities in Bucharest and elsewhere in Romania.
The aim of A început ploaia is twofold. On the one hand, also through the activist and participatory approach foregrounding it, the documentary aims to support the struggle for the right to the city that Roma people are bringing to the fore in Bucharest. On the other hand, the film shows how it may be possible to mix academic fieldwork, activist-oriented work and visual methods to create space for empowering experiences and meaningful exchange. For this reason Michele has also founded A Community Productions, a collective which aims to become an important collector of meaningful and politically-charged ethnographic documentaries in the years to come.
Lived and experienced by the people of Vulturilor 50 · Written, researched and directed by Michele Lancione · Produced by A Community Productions · Editing and motion graphics by Eleonora Mignoli · Graphic Design by Anouvong southiphong · Colour Grading by Jack Strange · Music Licensing by Francesco Menegat · Sound mix By Alessandro Ciani · Photo of the eviction by Adrian Catu · Translations from Romanian by Alina Huzui-Stoiculescu
PUBLIC SCREENINGS
The list is continuously updated. To get new dates, please follow our blog or follow us on twitter @acommprod. And if you’d like to arrange a screening, get in touch with us.
24.02.17 - LONDON (UK)
University College London Urban Lab
20 Gordon Street, WC1H 0AJ London
17.03.17 - BUCHAREST (RO)
Official selection at the One World Romania Film Festival
Info at www.oneworld.ro
17.03.17 - BUCHAREST (RO)
Private screening for the Vulturilor Community
Macaz Social Centre, Calea Mosilor, 106
28.03.17 - GÖTTINGEN (DE)
Screening as part of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF) conference
Info at www.siefhome.org
04.04.17 - BUCHAREST (RO)
Screening as part of the Forumul Justiției Locative, Ediția a II-A – and activist Forum for the fight for the right to housing (Macaz Bar Teatru Coop)
05.04.17 - BOSTON (US)
Screening as part of the annual Association of American Geographers (AAG) conference
Marriott Hotel
29.04.17 - ROVINJ (HR)
Official selection at the ETNOFilm Festival in Rovinj, Croatia
Info at www.etnofilm.com/en
16.05.17 - CAMBRIDGE (UK)
Presentation in the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
Host by the Societies and Markets research group
19.05.17 - MANCHESTER (UK)
Presentation at the event ‘Everyday Revolutions in Southern and Eastern Europe’
06.06.17 - BUDAPEST (HU)
Workshop, presentation and debate event with radical housing activists
6pm at Bókay János utca 34. Budapest
Info at www.facebook.com
09-16.07.17 - MELBOURNE (AU)
Official selection at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival
Info at www.mdff.org.au
07.07.17 - CLUJ-NAPOCA (RO)
Screening as part of the Forumul Justiției Locative, Ediția a III-A – and activist Forum for the fight for the right to housing (in Cluj)
31.08.17 - LONDON (GB)
Presentation and panel discussion at the RGS-IBG conference in London
Info at www.rgs.org
12.09.17 - LEEDS (UK)
Presentation and discussion at the RC21 conference in Leeds.
Info at www.rc21leeds2017.wordpress.com
08.10.17 - CLUJ-NAPOCA (RO)
Presentation and discussion hosted by Focus Atelier.
Info at www.focusatelier.ro
10.10.17 - VIENNA (AT)
Official selection at the urbanize! Festival in Vienna.
Info at www.urbanize.at
30.12.17 - SHEFFIELD (UK)
Screening and discussion in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning,
University of Sheffield.
16.01.18 - ROME (IT)
Screening and discussion at the occupied squat Metropoliz.
17.01.18 - ROME (IT)
Screening and discussion at the cultural centre and Cinema Apollo Undici
18.01.18 - FLORENCE (IT)
Screening and discussion as part of the GSSI and the University of Florence Winter doctoral school. Start at 6pm, at Complesso le Murate, via dell’Agnolo, Florence.
19.01.18 - NAPLES (IT)
Screening and discussion with local activists and Roma people.
Screening at the cultural centre Ex Asilo Filangieri (http://www.exasilofilangieri.it). Download the program in Italian here.
20.04.18 - BEDRISKA (CZ)
Open Day in Bedriska. Screening in favor of a community facing eviction. 18:00 (6pm) – Bedřiška (Ostrava-Hulváky), Czech Republic. Info on Facebook.
10.05.18 - LISBON (PT)
Official screening and at the Urban AudioVisual Festival. Info on the festival website.
02.06.18 - STOCKHOLM (SW)
Screening and debate at the Stockholm Anarchist Bookfair. Info on the bookfair website.
19.09.18 - LEICESTER (UK)
Screening and debate at the University of Leicester, with a member of the Vulturilor community.
13.10.18 - L'AQUILA (IT)
Debate around the ‘right to the city’ and screening, as part of the Festival Della Partecipazione, a big public event in l’Aquila (near Rome). Info on the event website.
20.11.18 - BERLIN (DE)
Screening and debate at the Center for Anthropological Research of Museums and Heritage, Institut für Europäische Ethnologie
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
22.11.18 - SHEFFIELD (UK)
Photographic exhibition around forced evictions in Romania, screening and debate at RED HAUS Cafe and Books. Info on Facebook.
28.03.19 - VIENNA (AU)
Photographic exhibition around forced evictions in Romania, screening and public panel debate at Die Labile Botschaft. Info on Facebook.
29.03.19 - ROME (IT)
Screening and public debate with members of the Vulturilor community at the occupied squat ‘Casalboccone’. Info on Facebook.
07.06.19 - BERLIN (DE)
Screening and public debate with members of the Vulturilor community at the squatted ex-fabric ‘Regenbogenfabrik’ in Berlin, as part of the 11th meeting of the European Action Coalition for the Right to Housing and the City. Info on Facebook.
13.06.19 - CHIȘINĂU (MO)
Screening and public debate at the independent space ‘Apartamentul deschis’ in the Moldovan capital. Info on Facebook.
11.11.19 - LIEGE (BE)
Screening and public debate organised by the International Committee for the Abolition of Illigimated Debt (CADTM) on housing struggles and anti-racist fights. Info on Facebook.
PRESS & CONTACT
Visit A Community Productions website or fill the form below.
Click here to download the official press release.