2a session: Tuesday 5 de June, 6.45-9 pm
Joan Miquel Gual, Tino Calabuig and Eva Fernández (expresident of the FAVB)
Film discussion group El poble desnonat 
 

La ciudad es nuestra (‘The city is ours’) is probably the documentary which most closely represents the struggle for rights in the city, driven from the urban social movements in Spain in the 1970s. Filmed before the start of Spain’s transition to democracy—when the Federación Regional de Asociaciones de Vecinos de Madrid (Madrid Federation of Regional Neighbourhood Associations; FRAVM) had still not been legalised—the film depicts the rise of demonstrations that were held when the political situation was still open. The film defends a direct bottom-up democracy, with the main focus being placed on an active society that has the ability to make all decisions related to districts and cities: schools, public spaces, mobility, pollution, safety, health and housing. Consisting of a series of interviews, it is a hugely important tool for understanding the power of a movement that attained many objectives, just before it was broken up due to the arrival of democracy and the co-optation of a large part of its biggest activists, who moved on to defend institutional interests with the beginning of the first municipal governments.

The subsequent debate will be attended by the director and neighbourhood activists, who will speak about the film and draw links with the present day.

Joan Miquel Gual is a member of the Memòria en moviment association, a housing activist at La Borda SCCL, a lecturer in film history at the Open University of Catalonia and the curator of the El poble desnonat film series.

Tino Calabuig is the artist and director of La ciudad es nuestra

Eva Fernàndez, feminist and neighborhood activist. She was the president of FAVB between 2004 and 2010. He currently teaches at the EUIT in Terrassa and belongs to the DESC Observatory.