Movie night: 20 Days in Mariupol (Mstyslav Chernov, 2023)

Sunday 21st January 2024, Movie night: 20 Days in Mariupol (Mstyslav Chernov, 2023). Documentary with English subtitles. Doors open at 20:00, intro & film start at 20:30.

During the Russian siege in 2022, unspeakably gruesome and bloody images of the countless dead and wounded victims of bombings and shootings in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol were seen around the world—thanks in part to the work of Ukrainian AP journalist Mstyslav Chernov. With great difficulty in this city lacking electricity and internet coverage, he managed to share these shocking and now-iconic images, such as the pregnant woman being carried on a stretcher from a bombed-out maternity clinic.

This documentary offers an even more powerful and mind-boggling impression of the siege—if such a thing is possible. The crystal-clear quality of the video footage makes for an almost 3D viewing experience. The camera captures the entry into the blasted clinic, the hurriedly dug mass graves containing dead children, and emotional exclamations from the doctors working in operating rooms.

The footage is pin-sharp, though sometimes jittery due to the explosions. In his soft-spoken voice-over, we hear Chernov talking about his emotional response to the 20 days that transformed this normal city into a shattered ruin.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Sexmisja (Juliusz Machulski, 1984)

Sunday 14 January 2024, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Sexmission (Sexmisja) * directed by Juliusz Machulski * 1984 * 116 minutes * In Polish with English subtitles * free screening * doors open at 8pm * intro & film start at 8.30

This is easily the most popular comedy to come out of Poland in the 1980s. Because Poland was still in the Eastern block at that time and couldn’t confront their government openly and directly, they instead created indirect attacks…. innuendos that could bypass the censors and reach an audience who could decode and understand them. They were creating their own language of cinema through a specific style of black humor.

Sexmission was one of the major films in this genre, and once again, it’s a film that’s rarely been screened here in the west. The story of this film? Two men kept in hibernation for 50 years learn they are the only surviving living specimens of the male gender in a new underground society run by women. The female archeologist who digs them up concludes that she has found the missing link between women and apes! These two surviving men face harsh treatment from their female guards, and will do anything to save their skin and to re-establish a male dominated population. This is such a wild flick that when viewed today it has the power to offend almost everyone… but I’ll do my best to re-insert it back into its original context to reveal its true meaning. A crazy East-Block black comedy that operates on many levels, starring Jerzy Stuhr (a favorite of Krzysztof Kieslowski).

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Cinema Italia: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Elio Petri, 1970)

Sunday 17 Dcember 2023, Cinema Italia: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion [INDAGINE SU UN CITTADINO AL DI SOPRA DI OGNI SOSPETTO] (19709) * Directed by Elio Petri * 115min * In Italian with English subtitles * doors open at 20:00, film starts at 20:30. After the film, please engage in sharing comments, ideas, and inspiration with the host(s) of the evening!

This unique thriller tells the story of a Roman police inspector known as “Il Dottore” (The Doctor, starring Gian Maria Volonté at his best) who has to investigate a crime in which he is involved. The moves of the inspector transform the thriller into a sharp critique of the Italian government in the 1960s and, more in general, on the oxymoronic relation between the state power and its abuse by people who should carry public responsibility over their shoulders. The system is inescapable, but, at the same time, we cannot avoid to have one — or not? The chaos produced by The Doctor’s behaviour is an invitation to reflect on our current world situation and our place in it. What kind of society do we want to live in? In the first film of an ideal trilogy on the concept of nevrosis, Elio Petri, the director of this feature film, decides to start from Power. The film had a great success internationally at its time and it became a classic, as it has something to say even after over half a century from its release.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Nakba film

Sunday 10 December 2023, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Nakba film * free screening * doors open at 8pm * intro & film start at 8.30

At the beginning of this flick, the director comes across a man who tells the story of a secret that everyone else denies and says is a fabrication. But as audio tapes and photographs are taken out of cardboard boxes, the horrible truth of what happened in the village is reconstructed. Additional archival film material, including unused news material that was shot by the BBC, is also brought in to help uncover the tragedy.

Now a cosy gentrified place, the very name of the town becomes tainted, the place feels like a horror story. This is a dynamite documentary that almost feels like a detective story at times, and one that is absolutely crucial to understand current events today. Besides laying out historical events, we are set on a course to wonder at the power of collective amnesia, or rather the forced-amnesia of an entire population. So in that light, although the film is about Israel in 1948, it could also be applicable to many places around the world. For example, it’s similar to how people in America treat their history of the Native American Indians, or the dropping of atomic bombs on civilian targets in Japan. And since we are living in Holland, I would extend that also to how Jews were treated here during World War II when 82% of the Jewish population were sent to death camps, and yet Holland only likes to talk about its almost nonexistent “resistance movement”.

Events are not isolated. History is always contextual or not at all. One has to always look at the bigger picture and not simply emotionally respond to a single incident, otherwise it makes no sense. So in order to understand something that burst out two months ago in Israel and Palestine, you have to also take into account an incident that happened in 1948. Today, as Gaza shifts from an “open air concentration camp” to a death camp, it’s important to understand what kick-started the problem. In 1948 Israel waged its ‘war of independence’, which meant hundreds of Palestinian villages were destroyed to make room for the new state of Israel. This film examines one small village – – and uses it as a microcosm for a larger tragedy that happened all across Palestine known as “Al Nakba” – the disaster. The film also explores why recognition of the “Nakba” is taboo in Israeli society. And before we jump to any conclusions, let’s keep in mind that the director of this film is Israeli.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Fedayin: The Struggle of Georges Abdallah (Vacarmes, 2020)

Sunday 3rd December 2023, Movie night – Fedayin: The Struggle of Georges Abdallah (Vacarmes, 2020). 81 min. Documentary with English subtitles. Doors open at 20:00, intro & film start at 20:30.

Fedayin: The Struggle of Georges Abdallah traces the course of an indefatigable Arab Communist and fighter for Palestine. From the Palestinian refugee camps that shaped his conscience to international mobilizations for his release, we will explore the situation of one of the longest-held political prisoners in Europe.

Synopsis: For over 35 years, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has been imprisoned. A Lebanese communist engaged in resistance alongside Palestinian fighters, he has been imprisoned by the French judicial system and successive governments since 1984. Beyond the judicial harassment to which he has been subjected, this documentary film will trace the political course of Georges Abdallah and seeks to show how his ideas and struggle are still vital and necessary.

This film about the critically important case of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah includes interviews with Samidoun international coordinator Charlotte Kates, Samidoun Europe coordinator Mohammed Khatib, Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat coordinator Khaled Barakat and many others, including Robert and Maurice Abdallah (Georges’ brothers), Jean-Louis Chalanset (Georges’ lawyer), Suzanne le Manceau (co-founder of the Collectif pour la Libération de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah (CLGIA)), Bertrand Sassoye (former political prisoner) and Jean-Marc Rouillan (former political prisoner).

The film takes us to Lebanon, to the Palestinian refugee camps, where he forged himself politically. We follow his engagement in the Palestinian resistance and against the Israeli occupation with the FARL (Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Fractions), a commitment that will take him to France in the 1980s, where he will be sentenced for complicity in murder. Through a series of interviews (in France, Lebanon, Belgium and Germany), we go to meet his family, his lawyer, his supporters, his friends and people who have rubbed shoulders with him. With them, we trace a life of resistance to imperialism and Zionist occupation.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

VoKu benefit + Documentary Screening “Hotel Mokum” for ZZW Rafelrand Mobilization

Thursday 30 November 2023, VoKu benefit + Documentary Screening for ZZW Rafelrand Mobilization. Food served from 7pm, screening Hotel Mokum (Yannesh Meijman, 2023, 30′) starts at 9pm, no reservation.

“ZZW Rafelrand” is one of the last frayed edges of Amsterdam, mobilizing under “Nightingales & Chickens: Unite! 4 de Laatste Rafelranden van Amsterdam”, in light of its threatened eviction starting in June 2024. The rafelrand has been a colorful patchwork of communities on Zeeburgereiland in the East of Amsterdam for over 40 years. Part of its communities is the ZZW student community of 235-people existing for 20 years. We have communal gardens, a give-away shop, organize skillshares & OnsEiland Leven community events. The DIY character of the ZZW community emerged in close relation to its surrounding frayed edges, among which artist community Fort Knox, the trailer community One Peaceful World, rockabilly club the Cruise In, to name but a few.

In light of the threatened eviction of the whole neighborhood, our mobilization is focused on bringing attention to our case, fighting against the erasure of Amsterdam’s frayed edges and its (young) creative spaces of counterculture and self-organization. Donations will go to sticker & flyer printing for ADEV (in collab with Krektek & Kloki) and for printing upcoming sticker & flyers.

We will cook a vegan dinner, while we introduce you to ZZW Rafelrand! Afterwards, there will be a screening & discussion of Mokum Kraakt’s documentary “Hotel Mokum”.

Hotel Mokum (Yannesh Meijman, 2023, 30′), in Dutch with English subtitles.
Hotel Mokum is a documentary about a collective that squatted the abandoned Hotel Marnix in the heart of Amsterdam on October 16th, 2021. Over six weeks the collective transformed the hotel into a home, a self-proclaimed free space and an oasis in a city smothered by hypergentrification. At the height of its popularity, Hotel Mokum got evicted under the guise of fire safety. The story of Hotel Mokum is rooted in protest: against both the housing and cost of living crises, as well as the criminalization of squatting in 2010 that led to the eviction of over 300 squats in Amsterdam alone. The film combines documentary footage, archival materials, and constructed scenes to create a complex and intimate portrait of a hopeful collective and the city they are working to reclaim.

Find ZZW Rafelrand events on Radar https://radar.squat.net/en/amsterdam/zzw-rafelrand
Join our mailing list: zzw [at] riseup [dot] net

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchens existing since the very beginning of Joe’s Garage, June 2005. Your donations are welcome. Food is vegan, no reservation. All benefits go to social & political struggles. Joe’s Garage is a space run by volunteers. Without a collective effort, without your active participation, we’re remaining closed. Get in touch in you feel like giving a hand. We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. If you want to know which days are still available, mail us.

Cinema Italia: The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970)

Sunday 26 November 2023, THE CONFORMIST [IL CONFORMISTA] (1970) * Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci * 108min * In Italian with English subtitles * doors open at 20:00, film starts at 20:30. After the film, please engage in sharing comments, ideas, and inspiration with the host(s) of the evening!

Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is a member of the secret police in Mussolini’s Fascist Italy. He and his new bride, Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli), travel to Paris for their honeymoon, where Marcello also plans to assassinate his former college professor Luca Quadri (Enzo Tarascio), an outspoken anti-Fascist living in exile. But when Marcello meets the professor’s young wife, Anna (Dominique Sanda), both his romantic and his political loyalties are tested.

In his perhaps most appreciated film, Bertolucci depicts the psychology of Fascism through a series of hypnotic shots using lush colors, striking contrasts, and stylized lighting. A surrealistic environment constellated by political and moral symbolism helps us recall a brutal, but still sought-after, ideology.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Sambizanga (Sarah Maldoror, 1972)

Sunday 12 November 2023, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: SAMBIZANGA * 1972 * Directed by Sarah Maldoror * 97 Minutes * In Lingala and Portuguese, with English subtitles * Doors open at 20:00, intro & film start at 20:30.

This flick takes place during the Portuguese occupation of Angola and focuses on the liberation struggle of African people living under a dictatorship and secret police force. And although there are freedom fighters that are being rounded up and arrested, this film was directed by a woman and therefore she gives it a more unusual and personal perspective. Different from most movies about colonialism, this one is much more intimate, moves at a human speed, and follows the plight of a single mother’s experience when her husband is arrested and disappears. She goes from police station to police station, from prison to prison, searching for him and what she experiences is a labyrinthine Kafkaesque bureaucracy.

It is based on the 1961 novella The Real Life of Domingos Xavier by José Luandino Vieira. When the film was made Angola was still under a dictatorship, and therefore the film had to be shot in the Congo. Many of the so-called actors in the film are real people that were working in the liberation movements at the time. Two years after the film was made a left-wing coup overthrew the government and liberated the country from the Portuguese. This film created an incredible historical president, helping people to understand what was happening on a grass-roots cultural level. Although the situation is harsh, director Sarah Maldoror was able to create a film of pure poetry. The cinematography shimmers, and one critic compared it to a Caravaggio painting.

This will be a high definition screening.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net