25/04/2024 - Felix Hergert and Dominik Zietlow reveal the hopes and doubts felt by those living in a Zurich neighbourhood, which is at risk of disappearing amid general indifference

Brunaupark is a lively, multicultural and multigenerational Zurich neighbourhood, an oasis in a desert of property speculation which is ripping the souls out of many - too many - cities. Composed of five residential housing estates comprising 405 recently renovated apartments, it’s home to children, families, teens and elderly people, but also to people of no fixed abode who find refuge in its warm spaces. The heart and soul of this neighbourhood are the small business and restaurant managers, who have become confidants for people whose lives aren’t always easy. For three years, Swiss directors Felix Hergert and Dominik Zietlow documented the lives of those who stand to lose everything - not just their apartments but, crucially, their social ties - in the name of capitalist greed, which has no time for human emotions. The resulting first feature film Brunaupark has won the National Competition of the Visions du Réel Festival.

In a David-versus-Goliath kind of fight, Brunaupark’s inhabitants refuse to leave and resist with the tools available to them, making no secret of their indignation. Over and above the loss of their homes and the difficulties they’ll have finding new accommodation, they’re united by the outrage they feel over the destruction of apartments which are still wholly functional and recently renovated. The new housing project devised by the bank, Crédit Suisse, proves just how increasingly voracious their neo-capitalist hunger truly is.

What emerges over the three years spent filming this movie isn’t only the uncertainty of these people’s suspended lives, but also the gradual, irreversible transformation of this neighbourhood which has lost its identity and which hasn’t managed to carve out another. Amidst stupefaction and outrage, the apartments are emptied and then repopulated, this time with temporary residents (students, young entrepreneurs, and foreign employees in multinationals such as Google, for example) who are looking for fun and helpful professional contacts rather than lasting social ties. The moment where these two worlds – the neighbourhood that it was and the one it has become – come together during a brunch taking place in a communal garden is especially significant and unintentionally comical. Points of view and personal ambitions clash, leading us to doubt whether peaceful coexistence will ever be an option.

Between wild raves which keep the whole neighbourhood awake, stories of what once was, and sometimes desperate attempts to save what remains to be saved, the film opens the floor to anyone and everyone. In this sense, the absurd yet inspired idea of transferring an entire restaurant into a domestic kitchen is particularly symbolic. In a certain sense, the guiding line of the story comes in the form of Ciccio, a pizza maker who has run a restaurant in Brunaupark for 28 years - a symbolic place which might be considered the beating heart of the neighbourhood, where people share their secrets and forge bonds for life. Can Brunaupark continue to exist without Ciccio, who’s replaced by sterile, hipster-esque coffee shops? In questioning an entire community who are only too aware of the precariousness of their everyday lives, the directors shine a light on the paradoxes of property speculation, which is jeopardising social structures essential for the survival of the weakest.

Determined but also resilient, the protagonists of this film confide without taboo in Felix Hergert and Dominik Zietlow, who are empathic and patient in lending a voice to people who are often deprived of one.

Brunaupark is produced by Langfilm – Bernard Lang AG and Sabotage Filmkollektiv GmbH, while Filmdelights are managing international sales.

(Translated from Italian)