Doors open: 19:30 hrs
Start screening: 20:00 hrs
Start Q & A: 21:15 hrs
Drinks at the bar: 21:45 - 23:00 hrs
Screening in Dutch with English subtitles

Living Together: The Story of De Warren follows a group of young people during the establishment of a housing cooperative that aims to be sustainable, social, and affordable. The project is ambitious: it is the first of its kind in the Netherlands, and none of the young housing pioneers have ever built a house before.

It all began with KONIJN, a group of friends who organize parties and festivals. When one of the friends inherits some land in Portugal, they decide to establish a permaculture farm. They live together for a month and the group grows to over a hundred people. Upon returning to Amsterdam, they face a lonely late summer and miss their communal way of life. They decide to live together in an creative hub in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, they have to leave the building that was intended for demolition after a few years. The group of friends want a lasting situation and discover a tender from the Municipality of Amsterdam, which aims to have 10% of their housing provided by housing cooperatives by 2030. They submit an application. To their disbeliefs they are chosen to be pilot participants in this program. Then the real adventure begins: they must quickly secure financing, find an architect, agree on a design, and find a contractor willing to work with inexperienced young people. Living Together: The Story of De Warren is a documentary created by Sam van Zoest, a filmmaker and resident of De Warren. It is a mosaic film composed of footage shot by residents of De Warren during the process, supplemented by interviews with the board. The music consists mostly of songs created by artists associated with the friend group.

The enthusiastic group of Housing Cooperative De Warren has been working together for years on cultural events through Collectief KONIJN. Additionally, they established a sustainable farm in Portugal and contributed to the construction and success of De Ceuvel, a sustainable incubator space in Amsterdam Noord. The core group consists of designers, sustainable, social, and cultural entrepreneurs with experience in circular construction and area development, social innovations, and communal living.

The group has used its knowledge and experience to realize a housing cooperative for today’s and tomorrow’s inhabitants of Amsterdam. De Warren aims to create an affordable future where there is room for looking after one another, for the environment and for the city. The housing cooperative has built 16 social housing and 20 mid-segment apartments on Centrumeiland.

Making it the first self-built housing cooperative in Amsterdam. While primarily created for the cooperative’s members, it also benefits Amsterdam in a broader sense. De Warren shares the lessons learned from the construction project through a knowledge base on its website, making this knowledge available to future groups with similar housing dreams.

More info: www.dewarren.co.