My Next Door Neighbours
Maia Torp Neergaard / Denmark / 2024 / 18 min
The residents in a Copenhagen suburb put their experience of living in a so-called parallel society into words in a beautiful film work that accompanies their stories with hand-developed images shot on analogue 16mm film.
In the last few years, Tingbjerg on the outskirts of Copenhagen has undergone major changes. For 12 years, Tingbjerg has been on the Danish government’s list of parallel communities. A list that each year assesses social housing neighbourhoods primarily on the basis of ethnicity. If a majority of the residents are from so-called non-western countries, the area risks being put on the list, with the consequence that more housing is built to change the demographics and/or people are forcibly evicted from their homes. ‘My Next Door Neighbours’ is a collage of images and voices from people living in Tingbjerg, two kilometres from the director’s home. The words bear witness to hope, despair, uncertainty and resistance, and are accompanied by black and white film images on analogue, hand-developed 16mm film.