Directing
For many decades, the Za Luzankami stadium was a football sanctuary in Brno, Czech Republic, with a unique atmosphere and a regular fan record. Real estate and business speculation, along with political disinterest, has led to its abandonment and degradation. After more than fourteen years, during which the famous stadium was dilapidated and covered with vegetation, the frustration culminated in a unique mobilization of forces involving fans, the government and the entire city.
The director Tomáš Hlaváček is loosely building upon the time-lapse documentary Housing Against Everyone, in which he captured the dispute surrounding the Rapid Re-Housing project in Brno. The topic of decent housing for families in need is also addressed in The Impossibility. People occupying rental apartments in Brno's “Kuncovka” wanted hot water, electricity and fair negotiations. Instead, they received bullying and threats from the owner, who, in his own words, “does not like coloured people”. Neither the police nor the city helped them. So they joined forces with activists and lawyers to fight for their rights. Hlaváček chronicles the months-long conflict with its legal follow-up as an engaged observer.
The availability of housing is a big topic today. It has the strongest impact on those who participate least in the public debate – low-income households, minorities or single women. The film follows a group of activists around Martin Freund, a representative and member of the Live Brno movement, as they try to persuade politicians in the second largest Czech city about their vision of affordable housing.
The earth is scorched; trees are dying; species are becoming extinct; rivers are drying up. Human interventions have thrown the ecosystem off balance. The irreversible changes will have a devastating impact. A trip of a young urban couple to the country provides a base for a spontaneous poetic contemplation on dried-up landscape and mankind's environmental grief. Nature has ceased to be a relaxing place.
