Screening: Rent Rebels (Mietrebellen)

Presented by Goethe-Institut Chicago

Virtual screening of Matthias Coers & Gertrud Schulte Westenberg's film Rent Rebels / Mietrebellen (2014), part of film series STP-on-Demand.

Please RSVP in order to gain access to this film. The screening link to the film will be sent out on Sunday, May 16, at 7:00am CST. The film will be available to view until Wednesday, May 19, at 7:00am CST. A talk will take place on May 17, at 12pm CST.

This film will be available in the USA, Mexico, and Canada.

Rent Rebels: Resistance Against the Sell-Out of the City
(DE: Mietrebellen: Widerstand gegen den Ausverkauf der Stadt)

Germany, 2014, 78 min.

Directors: Matthias Coers, Gertrud Schulte Westenberg

Languages: German

Subtitles: English

Synopsis:

Berlin – In recent years, Germany's capital city has changed rapidly. Apartments long considered unattractive are now being flipped by investors into financial assets. Mass conversions to condominiums and rent increases on an unprecedented scale are becoming commonplace. The visible tenant protests in the dazzling metropolis of Berlin are a reaction to the increasingly inadequate supply of affordable housing.

The film is a kaleidoscope of tenants' struggles in Berlin against displacement from neighborhood living contexts. An occupation of Berlin's city hall, the camp at Kottbusser Tor, organized resistance to evictions, and the struggle of pensioners for their age-appropriate apartments, and a leisure center symbolize the new awakening of the urban protest movement.