Sombrio Trailer(webm)
Sombrio is a 60 minute documentary about a community of squatters and surfers who lived on a beach on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island BC. The documentary follows the residents over a two year period leading up to their eviction and follows up four years later.
The story of Villa Road, a squatted street, during the heyday of squatting in the late 1970s, when all over the country people lived together in politicised communities. These squatters were on the left, and were part of a generation whose views were underwritten by Marxist ideology. They believed that the revolution was coming and the state would be overthrown.
Villa Road in south London brought together an extraordinary community of over 200 people.
QUOTES
“The idea was that there would be a revolution. One was always a little bit vague about exactly what form that might take in Britain, maybe a general strike or whatever. It sounds and it was wildly utopian.”
Mike Reid, Villa Roader
Anarchists mixed with hippies and feminists, and homeless single mothers rubbed shoulders with marxist revolutionaries. The core group in Villa Road were white middle-class graduates. These politicised intellectuals with allegiances to various left-wing groups led the Villa Roaders in all their anti-capitalist campaigns.
Villa Roaders were against the nuclear family, which they felt denied the full potential of the individual. They were antagonistic to the police, who they viewed as an embodiment of the state. They identified politically with the working class, and supported striking workers. These were also the early days of feminism, and women on Villa Road struggled to free themselves from male domination by attending consciousness-raising groups and Marxist reading groups. As well as engaging in political activism, some on Villa Road were interested in transforming their unconscious minds through psychotherapy. This took an extreme form at number 12, which was a primal scream commune, run by the charismatic and wholly untrained Jenny James, who now runs a commune in Colombia and gives a rare interview in this film.
In the hot summer of 1976, the Villa Roaders barricaded the street to fend off eviction and demolition. They won a partial victory: half of the street was saved and still stands today. The communist revolution, however, failed to materialise.
The film also documents London’s most long-standing squatted community, St Agnes Place, a street close to Villa Road. They fought eviction and demolition for over 30 years, and were finally evicted by the council only recently, in December 2005.
[DK] 500 Stenkastende Autonome Voldpsykopater fra Helvede
“For Sale! Including 500 violent stone throwers from Hell”, was the message from the controversial squat ‘Ungdomshuset’ in Copenhagen. The film takes a balanced look behind the barricades and follows the definitive last year in the life of the squatters before all was demolished in March 2007.
[NL] News reports – various 2007
- 2007-08-13 Verbindingstraat AT5.avi
- 2007-08-21 Verdachten brand kraakpand Almere voor de rechter.avi
- 2007-08-28 kraken in 80 volgens J. Nijenhuis – 1vandaag beeldcanon.avi
- 2007-08-30 G.L. Kraken is toppie AT5.avi
- 2007-08-30 G.L. pro kraken.avi
- 2007-08-30 J & J leegstand kantooren.avi
- 2007-10-28 Kraken met Jon.avi
- 2007-10-30 Ontruiming Damrak Kerkstraat RTVNH.avi
- 2007-10-30 Ontruimingsgolf NOS.avi
- 2007-10-30 Ontruimingsgolf SBS6.avi
- 2007-10-31 tweede ontruiming Damrak AT5.avi
- 2007-10-31 tweede ontruiming Damrak NOS 14.00 uur.avi
- 2007-10-31 tweede ontruiming Damrak RTL7.avi
- 2007-10-31 tweede ontruiming Damrak SBS6.avi
- 2007-11-01 Cohen, ontruimingen niet aankondigen AT5.avi
- 2007-11-01 Gesprek met de burgemeester, ontruimingen niet aankondigen.avi
- 2007-11-02 Kamer wil kraakverbod AT5.avi
- 2007-11-02 Kamer wil kraakverbod P&W.avi
- 2007-11-02 Kamer wil kraakverbod RTL4.avi
- 2007-11-02 Kamer wil kraakverbod RTVNH.avi
- 2007-11-02 Kamer wil kraakverbod SBS6.avi
- 2007-11-02 Kamer wil kraken verbieden NOS 18.00 uur.avi
- 2007-11-02 Kamer wil kraken verbieden RTL7.avi
- 2007-11-07 Kraakverbod in de Heeren.avi
- 2007-11-11 SWOMP 3.0 AT5.avi
- 2007-11-13 SWOMP gaat inspreken AT5.avi
- 2007-11-15 SWOMP 3.0 van zuks dus.avi
- 2007-11-17 SWOMP 3.0 ontruiming AT5.avi
- 2007-11-17 SWOMP 3.0 ontruiming RTVNH.avi
- 2007-11-24 Bibi’s verzet Vals Plat.avi
- 2007-12 Groen Front acties tegen kolen (temp).avi
- 2007-12-01 Protest tegen afbraak sociale woningbouw.avi
- 2007-12-15 Kraakdag Haarlem.avi
- 20071030-at5-ontruimingsgolf_amsterdam.avi
- 20071105-at5-boobytrap_kerkstraat.avi
- 20071119-vara-de_wereld_draait_door-van_riesen.avi