PUSHBACK Talks

The Filmmaker and The Advocate are joined by Patrick Butler, The Guardian’s Social Policy Editor. The trio discusses current social conditions across the UK as it continues to be hammered by the pandemic. In the world’s 5th largest economy, poverty, hunger and homelessness have burgeoned. So much so, that Manchester United footballer – Marcus Rashford – has stepped in, using his own history of pov...

Everyone knows there is a global housing crisis. More grassroots movements in cities around the world are challenging unaffordability, evictions, inhumane housing conditions, homelessness, and the influx of big capital into the housing sector. To defend their interests, many claim housing is a human right, not a commodity. But what does the human right to housing actually mean? Getting back to bas...

Is the takeover of housing by institutional investors a conspiracy theory, or does the evidence support a global pattern? The Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss their experiences investigating the financialization of housing. No matter where they travelled, South Korea, Sweden, Canada, the Czech Republic -- all roads seemed to lead to a single private equity firm: Blackstone. Fredrik and Leilani d...

A special episode of PUSHBACK Talks! The Filmmaker and The Advocate reconnect with Saskia Sassen, prominent Professor of sociology at Columbia University, one of the world’s most important thinkers on cities, and a central character in PUSH-The film . The trio continue the conversation about why so many people can't afford their homes any longer.  Going to the heart of the matter they unpack...

The language we use can clarify, empower, and even change minds. It can also create a club that shuts people out: if you speak the language, you’re in, otherwise, stay out! Financialization , markets , real estate , IPOs , assets , security …. The Filmmaker and The Advocate scratch their heads and stumble through the lingo they’ve come across in their journey to understand why people can’t afford...

The upcoming US election is a big one and in California the stakes are particularly high. Not only will they be electing a new President, they’ll be asked to vote Yes or No on Proposition 21 - a ballot that, if the yes vote gets a majority, could pave the way for rent control throughout the State. In this episode of PUSHBACK Talks the Filmmaker and the Advocate chat with René Moya, the lead campai...

This is a special episode of PUSHBACK Talks to mark the opening of PUSH-the film in [virtual] theatres across the USA. For the first time, The filmmaker and The Advocate invite a guest into the conversation. This episode features Aaron Glantz, Peabody Award-winning investigative journalist, resident of San Francisco, and author of the recently released book, Homewreckers which details the devastat...

This episode of PUSHBACK Talks exposes what can happen when independent filmmakers and human rights advocates tell stories about multinational corporations causing people serious harm.  The co-hosts discuss the true story of Fredrik being sued by DOLE, the biggest fruit company in the world, for making a documentary about the harm they were causing their workers. Fredrik's film BANANAS!* foll...

Students the world over head to university filled with hopes and dreams for the future. But to pursue those dreams requires secure housing and that’s where the nightmare begins. The co-hosts swap stories of student life in London, Lagos, Dublin, Seoul and Toronto. Students are working multiple jobs to pay the rent, lobbying for the right to sleep in their cars, experiencing sexual coercion, spendi...

Golden Visas - backdoor entry into Europe for the corrupt and wealthy. Money can't buy you love but it can buy a passport! In this episode The Filmmaker and The Advocate explore the dark world of Golden Visas which emerged after the Global Financial Crisis on the advice of the IMF and the Central European Bank as a way for economically failing countries to access big cash. Countries with Gold...

The Filmmaker and The Advocate explore whether it’s actually gentrification that’s ruining our neighbourhoods or something else. Fredrik fiercely defends the rise of cortados (and bike lanes!) in neighbourhoods across the world and Leilani discusses the failures of New York’s High Line. With inspiration from clips of the always brilliant Prof. Saskia Sassen in the film PUSH, and 17-year-old London...

You can’t squeeze water out of a stone, and you can’t squeeze money out of people who don’t have any.   This episode of PUSHBACK Talks focuses on EVICTION: the brutal action taking place across the planet, where millions of people, from India to the US, are being kicked out of their homes, often with nowhere to go. And the threat is only increasing. 40 million Americans are one month away from evi...

PUSH, directed by the Filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten opened to sold out audiences in Copenhagen and Toronto in the spring of 2019. PUSH is a multi-award winning documentary that has changed our understanding of the root causes of the global housing crisis. The film features the Advocate, Leilani Farha, then the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing. After years of being followed around by The...

The Filmmaker and the Advocate take a dive into dark money – money made from illicit activities like drug trafficking, refugee smuggling, and illegal arms sales. In PUSH-the film Italian journalist and author of Gomorrah, Roberto Saviano, explains that “it’s in the tax havens where legal and illegal capitalism meet and merge”. In other words, tax havens that were originally set up to hide criminal...

The Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss the global pandemic and its direct and undeniable relationship to housing. Not only did the pandemic lay bare the global housing crisis, it has provided a once in a generation opportunity to solve it. Fredrik and Leilani discuss some of the creative new laws and policies being enacted by city governments to address homelessness and inadequate housing, and the...

The Filmmaker, Fredrik Gertten and The Advocate, Leilani Farha discover that a plant-based milk company, Oatly, sold 10% of the company to Blackstone for USD $200 million. Yep, that’s the same Blackstone featured in PUSH – the award winning documentary film by Fredrik, that features Leilani. The same Blackstone accused by Leilani in her role as UN Special Rapporteur for violating the right to hous...

Whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em, Airbnb has had a huge impact on housing in global cities. In this episode the Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss the irony of a start-up that was originally established to help three guys pay their rent in San Francisco has turned into a 27 billion dollar business that has resulted in evictions and has decreased affordable housing stock in cities across the globe....

In this episode, the Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss the rage that is popping up in cities around the world right now and ask: WHY ARE PEOPLE SO ANGRY? WHAT'S HOUSING GOT TO DO WITH IT? In response to the Global Financial Crisis of '08, governments sided with the banks instead of homeowners. Suddenly people’s homes became 'distressed assets' and were purchased en masse by he...

There is a Monster taking over our cities. No one knows its name, and few have seen it, but it's at the heart of the global housing crisis. In this first episode, Fredrik -the Filmmaker - and Leilani - the Advocate - provide a swift overview of the global financial actors who have taken over our homes and turned them into commodities. You’ll hear excerpts from the film PUSH www.pushthefilm.co...