A kingdom for a house 1de5.avi

A KINGDOM FOR A HOUSE

Netherlands, 1980 (MIFF 1981, New Directors)

One of the most graphic documentaries ever filmed, this records the efforts of squatters to draw attention to the chronic shortage of housing in Holland. The coronation of Queen Beatrix was used as the occasion for demonstrations against Government policy.

"Made as a collaborative effort between two Dutch collectives, the film was shot during the week before Beatrix was crowned, and on the day itself — when five crews were deployed round Amsterdam. The makers wanted to capture what the highly active Squatters' Movement had originally intended to be a demonstration focusing on the city's chronic housing shortage. What they caught on film was a riot created by some 10,000 imported police. Some of the money to make the film was put up by one of Holland's more radical independent television stations, but the results were too provocative for them, and so the official version remains the one the world knows — in which a queen was crowned and 'hooligans' tried to spoil the day".

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• a kingdom for a house
• squatters
• okupas
• queen
• holland
• holanda
• disturbios
• riots
• Amsterdam