The rot on Connaught St in Phibsboro was in the news this week. Bought by DCC in 2019 using CPO powers for 700k in public money and still idle.
Meanwhile, buddleia bursts from the roof. The plant has become a quiet symbol of urban dereliction. A hint of how life always finds a way - even in ruins.
As the city shifts beneath their feet, communities of all kinds endure the trauma of developer-led change yet slowly rediscover their collective power and refuse to be pushed out.
“What has influenced me the most here is how cinema can bring people together,” he says. “It sounds naive, but it’s to bring people together in an organising fashion.”
Thanks to @michaellanigan.bsky.social & the DI crew for this. You'll find the trailer for the film pinned above! Give it a share!
Last call for tickets!
The kids are alright.
Stick around after Sunday’s screening for a short Q and A with John Bissett and Maeve Brennan who both appear in the documentary. They'll be joined by director James Redmond and hosted by Kevin Brannigan. We’ll keep it tight - 20 minutes max, bing bang boo!
Eoin McLaughlin and Richard Mc Mahon crunched the numbers on evictions for @rtebrainstorm.bsky.social earlier this month.
The authors concluded that: “It is not unreasonable to suggest that we are now seeing eviction rates that have not been seen in Ireland since the 1850s.”
Displace is shaped by ideas from the #RightToTheCity - a concept from Henri Lefebvre.
He warned against the “reduction of the city to a dormitory”: a place to sleep, not live.
The #RightToTheCity means ordinary folks shaping the spaces they inhabit - not investors abusing them as playgrounds.
Displace: The Battle for Dublin, Maspalomas and Samanta Nobody are all screening at DIFF later that same day — so swing by early and join us for what will be a fantastic event! 🍿
Get your tickets here ➡️ www.diff.ie/2026-program...
🎬 This event will bring together the directors behind Samanta Nobody, Gays Against Guns, Displace: The Battle for Dublin, and Maspalomas.
Moderated by journalist Aoife Barry, we'll consider how film and the arts can help raise awareness of human rights issues and inspire audiences to take action ✊
We’re delighted to invite you to Bringing Human Rights to Life on Screen: An ICCL panel discussion at Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF)!
🗓️ Sunday 22 February, 11am - 12pm
📍 Haymarket House, Smithfield, Dublin 7, D07CF98
🎟️Tickets cost €7 and are available here ➡️ www.diff.ie/programme/ic...
Derelict Ireland.
Landscapes pockmarked with decay.
This isn’t a weather event. It’s not a natural feature.
It’s a market-made blight.
#DirelictIreland
In Displace: The Battle For Dublin, Trinity’s Cian O’Callaghan unpacks urban vacancy not as passive emptiness but as a strategic and contested component of property markets. A material force that shapes who gets space, who gets priced out, and how cities are remade in crisis and boom alike.
“You can see the sparks and the rumblings with things like The Cobblestone, but it’s part of a much wider phenomenon that’s undermining all the living space, the public space, and the cultural space in Dublin at the moment.”
- Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin
Filmed over four years across kitchen tables, protests and public meetings, this documentary follows a city fighting for itself as a broken property market chews up its citizens for profit. Rooted in Dublin, it reveals global forces reshaping cities, where homes are assets and people are obstacles.
A quick teaser. That's Legion of One's "Problems Cascade" in the background from a release back in November on Front End Synthetics. Shouts to @aoboyle.bsky.social for letting us raid that release! Proper heavy weight business.
Huge thanks is also owed to the absolute rake of musicians and producers who lent us music for the soundtrack during a frantic last minute scramble once we were locked in for the #DIFF2026 screening. There'll be more on that later, but trust us - it absolutely slaps!
Some initial stills from the project. Teasers and more to come.
Filmed over four years, Displace: The Battle For Dublin is a documentary about the trauma of developer-led change and the community resistance that follows.
It's made the official selection at #DIFF2026. Screening Sun Feb 22, 13:30 at the Lighthouse Cinema.
www.diff.ie/programme/di...
