SYNOPSIS
Housing prices are skyrocketing in cities around the world. Incomes are not. PUSH sheds light on a new kind of faceless landlord, our increasingly unlivable cities and an escalating crisis that has an effect on us all. This is not gentrification, it�s a different kind of monster.
The film follows Leilani Farha, the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, as she�s traveling the globe, trying to understand who�s being pushed out of the city and why. �I believe there�s a huge difference between housing as a commodity and gold as a commodity. Gold is not a human right, housing is,� says Leilani.
DIRECTOR�S NOTE
PUSH is my journey to understand why life in our cities is getting so unaffordable. For two years I filmed with Leilani Farha, we had daily Whatsapp chats discussing the issue. Early on it was clear that we were lacking a language to describe the ongoing development. Words like gentrification are not sharp enough at describing the issue. It’s a global disease when homes are turned into assets in a financial game. The gentrification talk creates a divide. Blaming a hip coffee shop or an art gallery for pushing out the poor is just silly. There are other – much stronger forces in action. If citizens and politicians want to push back the invasion of speculative money from hedge funds and criminals. we need a deeper understanding.
My hope is that�PUSH�will form a platform for better conversation. That people in countries around the world realize that the development in their town is not unique. There’s a global pattern, a business model repeated over and over again. A new kind of landlord, a hedge fund whose customers are not the tenants but the investors. PUSH is now out on a global journey, at cinemas and festivals. Everywhere, I meet people who through the film now feel less lonely. Just more angry.�
– FREDRIK GERTTEN
PUSH also includes interviews and participation of thought leaders:
LEILANI FARHA, SASKIA SASSEN, JOSEPH STIGLITZ and ROBERT SAVIAN
THEATER LIST NOW:
New York, NY
September 25-October 8, 2020
Anthology Film Archives *
*Part of the series, “Home Truths:
Films About Housing Rights, Displacement,
and the Meaning of Home�!
San Francisco, CA
September 25-October 8, 2020
Roxie Theater
Berkeley, CA
September 25-October 8, 2020
Rialto Cinemas Elmwood
Sebastopol, CA
September 25-October 8, 2020
Rialto Cinemas Sebastopol
Los Angeles, CA
September 25-October 8, 2020
Laemmle Theatres
Santa Fe, NM
September 25-October 8, 2020
Violet Crown
Austin, TX
September 25-October 8, 2020
Violet Crown
Charlottesville, VA
September 25-October 8, 2020
Violet Crown
Columbus, OH
September 25-October 8, 2020
Gateway Film Center
Chicago, IL
October 2-15, 2020
Music Box Theatre��
Minneapolis, MN
October 22-31, 2020
Twin Cities Film Festival