re:assemblage collective

ZONE ZERO

Directed by Farzad Moloudi
Brussels · 2015 · 105'00

ZONE ZERO is an intimate documentary of the end days of a former Jesuit School in Belgium that became the Gesu Project: a squatted home for homeless refugees, stateless individuals and political activists. The film delicately shares complications of the housing environment with daring complexity courtesy of Moloudi's insider status as a former resident of the Gesu Project. A radical autonomous zone where decisions are made collectively by residents reveals all of the complications of life inside the "utopia." Competition, ethnic/cultural rivalries, class warfare and gender roles collide while long term sustainability crumbles when real estate speculation and municipal servants get involved.

"For a few years, a diverse group of people from all walks of life, those forced by circumstances into a life as illegal migrants and those in search of ways to realise utopian social ideals, formed a community of squatters in the heart of Europe. Farzad Moloudi's ZONE ZERO documents their life together, without resorting to stereotypical images or discourse, without falling into the trap of identity production, without relying on simplistic explanation. With modest means yet a superbly edited structure and a beautiful soundtrack, this documentary draws its viewers into what must be seen as a highly relevant portrait of our current times." (ARKIPEL Jakarta International Documentary + Experimental Film Festival)

Farzad Moloudi was born in 1960 in Iran and is a political refugee. In 2012, he graduated from the documentary department at the RITS film academy in Brussels. While living in Gesu he made his first feature-length documentary film, Zone Zero [↗]

― Originally screened at Trinity Square Video ―