Malìn van Weerdenburg | 2022 | NL | 30' | EN subs

In Utrecht, hidden in Tuinwijk, lies a remarkable neighborhood that has been renamed 'Buurland' by its residents. There have been plans to demolish these portico houses since 2007, yet this has been halted for a long time due to the economic recession. As a result, some residents have lived in Buurland for more than ten years, and a special sense of community has emerged. Tools, soup spoons and gardens are being shared by neighbors. An important ritual for the community is the annual neighborhood festival 'Zwemfest', wherefore the backyards transform into a professional-looking festival site. Yet, in 2023, the current residents will have to leave their houses. Housing corporation Mitros plans to create a new community, called: 'Nieuw Buurland'. Will Mitros succeed in continuing this sense of community? TRAILER

After the screening an online Q&A will take place with filmmaker Malìn van Weerdenburg, who also lives in Buurland, and will be moderated by Ying-Tzu Lin.*

This screening is part of the Vrije Ruimte Festival. On Friday 25 and Saturday 26 November, Amsterdam Alternative (of which we are also part of) is organizing this festival for the first time. With this festival we want to draw attention to the importance and value of free space, which cannot be expressed in monetary terms. The festival takes place in multiple 'alternative', non-commercial venues in the city with a program of discussions, exhibitions, live bands, documentaries, food, drinks, tours, audio-visual experiments and parties. The Vrije Ruimte Festival is a cooperation with the Envisioning Free Space conference, which is taking place in Amsterdam this year.

* Ying-Tzu Lin is an urban planner and PhD candidate at the Department of Human Geography, Planning and International Development, University of Amsterdam. She is the founder and editor of the mandarin web media Eyes on Place. Born and raised in Taipei, she currently lives in Amsterdam. She collects various diplomas from Agronomy, Sociology, Landscape Architecture, and Spatial Planning. In between her studies, she worked with education/pedagogy organisations, planning consultancies, volunteering in the music scene and wandering in cities. She enjoys and cares about cities, public spaces and the politics between them. Recently, she works at the intersection of topics such as street markets, children-friendly urban environments, and feminist geography.