Q and A session will follow screening of feature documentary focusing on social housing problems in the UK
AN INDEPENDENT film highlighting the state of social housing throughout the UK following Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy scheme will be screened in Glasgow tonight.
Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle, will be aired at the Glasgow Film Theatre, Rose Street at 6.15pm this evening.
The screening will be followed by a Q and A session, where University of Glasgow lecturer Dr Valerie Right, photographer and blogger Gina Lundy and campaigner Paddy McManus will feature.
“I wanted to provide a counter narrative to the one we usually see in the arts and media about people who live in council and social housing, which often depicts residents as impoverished, benefit scroungers or having somehow failed in life.” Paul Sng
Written, directed and produced by Paul Sng, the feature documentary is intended to highlight some common misperceptions of social housing and tenants from some media outlets.
Speaking to CommonSpace, Sng said: “I wanted to provide a counter narrative to the one we usually see in the arts & media about people who live in council and social housing, which often depicts residents as impoverished, benefit scroungers or having somehow failed in life.
“We also wanted to give a voice to people who are fighting to save their homes from demolition by local authorities and explore the deliberate neglect of council housing from government at both national and local level.”
Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle – Extended Trailer from Velvet Joy Productions on Vimeo.
Released on 8 June this year, one week before the Grenfell tower disaster, Dispossession has received rave reviews from critics and commentators in England.
The feature also emphasises the importance of social housing, and highlights the dangers of councils selling off estates to be bulldozed to make way for private homes.
“Many of the MPs, both labour and Tory, who we approached declined or failed to return our emails.” Paul Sng
Sng told CommonSpace he struggled to get comment from politicians on the issue: “Many of the MPs, both Labour and Tory, who we approached declined or failed to return our emails.”
The feature, which focuses on the decline of council houses for working-class people, has been dubbed the most important film since I, Daniel Blake by The Big Issue magazine.
It will also be screened on 14 September at Cameo Cinema in Edinburgh.
Dr Valerie Right is a historian of modern Britain, with particular interests in gender and the social and political history of the country. She is an expert on the impact on the lack of affordable housing.
Tickets cost £9.50 for the film screening and Q and A session.
Pictures courtesy of Dispossesion, YouTube
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