Adam Moore & Pino El Bardo (2019) Fire in ‘El Oasis’, 2017.
‘Fire in El Oasis’ is a documentary about a fire that burnt 349 homes to the ground in August, 2017, in Medellín, Colombia. The houses formed part of a recent land occupation in an area called ‘El Oasis’ in the neighbourhood, Moravia. Through personal narratives of residents’ who lost their homes in the fire, this documentary traces the occupation of ‘El Oasis’, the fire and its damaging aftermath. At the same time, it aims to show what it meant to lose their housing for the residents of El Oasis – the majority of whom arrived in Medellín as victims of forced displacement and do not have stable employment. We listen to the stories of seven residents and follow their struggle for a permanent housing solution. Their experiences add up to a troubling account of state negligence and cycles of victimisation in Colombia. Yet, despite it all, residents’ dreams for ‘vivienda digna’ (dignified housing) persist, underpinned by their unceasing ambitions to ‘progress’ and build an urban future for themselves in the city – a future in which they are able to live with dignity.
Adam Moore & Alan Chadwick (2017) Eviction of El Oasis
This short film focuses on a series of forced evictions that took place in El Oasis in 2015 – just a few months before my research in 2016. Using filmed interviews and mobile phone footage of clashes with riot police on the day of the evictions, this film recounts the experiences of those present that day. The film highlights how urban development projects are prioritised over the rights of internally displaced persons, and the subsequent gang-related dangers faced by those evicted with nowhere else to go.