Squat! -- Film Description:
"It's the summer of 2001 in Montreal, and the city is sweltering. Violent confrontations between increasingly militant homeless people and police are hitting the news. Afraid that bad publicity will affect tourism, the city allows a legal squat. Fifty people, including single parents with kids, move off the streets into an empty building surrounded by a couple of acres outside the citys core. Director Eve Lamont, unabashedly allied with the squatters, is inside filming as they debate responsibilities, share meals, graffiti the walls and hang militant banners from the roof. But the mayor is up for re-election, the media keeps up the heat with sensationalist broadcasts, and it's soon a major political issue. Within weeks, a literal army of building inspectors, fire marshals and police descend upon the building in a relentless campaign of intimidation and misrepresentation. Squat! is a powerful, rowdy film about the squatters' political vision and city halls drive to squash it. Cinema verité and political filmmaking at its best."
-- Lynne Fernie

Source:
"Hot Docs" Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. http://www.hotdocs.ca/.