Ageing buildings | Ageing bodies – film screening

The opening event of Romania’s participation at the LFA with the interdisciplinary project "Ageing Buildings | Ageing Bodies" is the screening of The Block/Blocul, a documentary directed by anthropologist Maria Șalaru (UCL).

From neighbourly disputes over garlic-heavy cooking to memories of Ceaușescu’s heat-less winters, the film explores the rich social and material universe of a Romanian apartment building. It follows the story of the block’s administrator, in his effort to mediate relationships between neighbours and maintain peace and order. In doing so, it crayons the rich nuances of the inhabitants’ everyday lives. The block comes to life, as its inhabitants constantly reshape it to defy the passing of time, while its failing infrastructure encroaches on their neighbourly relations.

This is a film about people’s homes, and the spaces in between. In those spaces, the pipes don’t only carry hot water – they carry meanings from one inhabitant to the next.

The screening will open with an introduction by Maria Șalaru.