Squat

Logline: The story of one fatal night, SQUAT recounts how authorities attempt to forcefully evacuate a former Soviet military compound, now illegally occupied by scores of anarchist youngsters and other dwellers. As events rapidly spiral out of control, the last remaining hope for a peaceful resolution fades away and the night progresses into escalating violence and riot while many lives shatter by daybreak.

Synopsis: Rise up. Squat down.

The heyday of squat communities, long the hotbed for anti-globalist, anti-capitalist subcultures, has gone in the western parts of Europe. The powers-that-be use every means to destroy these strongholds of resistance. Street riots in Copenhagen, threats of radical violence because of a squat doomed to be torn down in Berlin, all go to show that these are hard times for anarchist, ultra-leftist thinkers. Squatters have started their journey eastward in growing numbers, settling down in former Soviet Bloc countries in order to build the Utopia they failed to establish in the west.

Such an autonomous community has been founded in Budapest. From every corner of the world, young people have come into an abandoned former military complex, once occupied by the mighty Soviet Army, to establish a commune of equals. With a hefty dose of irony they call it Stalingrad, and make real efforts to create comfortable dwelling for all. Operating a free supermarket, they also have social workers, doctors and lawyers doing volunteer work for the inhabitants. Stalingrad also hosts an art gallery – all this maintained from charity and donations. The state of Paradise cannot last long, though. Citizens in the district and the capital have a problem with having what they perceive as freeloaders living on a valuable property without paying taxes. The government, having grave financial difficulties, also grabs the opportunity when at long last it gets an offer for the land where Stalingrad lays.

As is the inevitable with all such collectives, in the meantime a firm hierarchy is established within the community of equals. Leader of the squatters is ABEL, a naive and open-minded revolutionary from Transylvania. The real leader behind him is in fact German-born ROSE, his older girlfriend, having arrived into the Stalingrad community with the experience of the Copenhagen street fights. Two definitive members of the commune are mysterious, reclusive, brooding teen MÁTÉ with a backpack full of cash, and old hippie YODA, who has never stopped believing in the ideals of his youth.

TÖRÖK, the conservative mayor of the capital faces a re-election campaign and under constant pressure because of the city’s mounting budget deficit, he is forced to appear tough in public, so he employs harsh rhetoric against the anarchist youth. He also has an ulterior motive in wanting to bring Stalingrad down: Máté is in fact his rebellious son who wanted to annoy his conservative father by moving in with the radical leftists. Török and his staff have been able to keep Máté’s move out of the press so far, but it won’t be long before the media are all over the prodigal son’s story.

Head of the tactical police force brought in to deal with the eviction is ISTVÁN, a political opponent to the mayor, himself a leftist thinking ex-representative.

They are the key figures setting the events in motion. As we follow them through the one day the story takes place on, they all turn out to be vastly different from what we expected from them at first glance. Driven by secret agendas, ambitions, hopes and fears in the extraordinary situations they are all forced into, they will all display surprising attitudes and tendencies as the plot progresses.

SQUAT is the story of the destruction of a community, for against power and authority, free thinkers and naive ideology have never really stood a chance. The fate of countless people is sealed during this momentous night as the siege of Stalingrad leads to hostage taking and street riots. Yet, focus of our story remains on the tragedy of the individual. Our objective is to present how characters react in this exceptional, sometimes absurd, nevertheless very real situation.

This is a story about division, about ideologies separating people from one another. It’s about the breakdown of communication that determines our everyday existence. But it is also about blindness and oversimplification that taints public thinking. It shows the distorted, sensationalist world of media, the selfish intricacies of politics and the ultra-leftist communities fuelled by archaic ideologies, yet defended ruthlessly by its followers so caught up in their own beliefs.

It would be naive of us to strive for complete objectivity, but we will attempt to keep a distance and reveal the truth behind all our characters’ motivations. There are no “good” and “bad” characters in this story. All we want to show are humans with their own ideals, dreams and ambitions.

Plot keywords: riot , anarchists , anti-globalization , hostage