For the documentary Who Owns the City we paid a visit to three central-European cities during the autumn of 2018.
Krakow was the first one on our list. It is a beautiful city, yearly visited by more than 12 million tourists. It is promoted as £2 city in the London subway, best for bachelor´s parties. The number of noisy tourists is a problem for a small group of locals, who did not leave the city centre yet. They decided to take action.
The second visit was dedicated to the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava. We met with the author of YIMBA.SK blog Adrian Gubčo, who explained us the current changes reshaping his city. Together we visited the city centre as well as the huge construction site close to it.
Last, but not least, we travelled to Budapest. The author of story collection called „8th Districts of God“ Dániel-Levente Pál guided us through the Józsefváros – the main inspiration for his writing. We have witnessed, how strong and diverse the topic of gentrification is here. The government of Viktor Orbán, however, does not consider it problematic.
We were looking for specific people, who could tell stories of these cities. Local environment and its development have shown to be much more interesting, than we imagined. We also approached local filmmakers who will help us capture each line properly.