“It could have gone on indefinitely,” filmmaker James Redmond said as he addressed the audience at the premiere of his new documentary Displace: The Battle for Dublin on the third day of the Dublin International Film Festival.
Standing before the silver screen at Light House Cinema on Sunday 22 February, Redmond told cinemagoers that throughout the four-year production, fresh examples of urban conflict kept emerging. “Every day, something surfaced to fit the lens of the project,” he said, reading from his phone.
The black-and-white, feature-length documentary examines disputes over housing, cultural venues and public space across Dublin. Redmond said the film could easily have incorporated recent events such as eviction notices served on residents at Spencer Dock in October or the January closure of the Complex arts centre on Arran Street East.
None of these incidents, he argued, were isolated. “They expose something structural. The subordination of social life to profit.” He added bluntly: “The market is a monster. It turns living spaces into dead space.”
Shot over four years, the documentary weaves together more than 50 interviews alongside footage from protests and public meetings. It chronicles campaigns including the attempted eviction of residents from Rathmines’ Tramco building, efforts to save the historic Moore Street market, the closure of Richmond Road Studios in Fairview, and the long decay of the Iveagh Market on Francis Street.
At the heart of the film lies the concept of a “right to the city”, first articulated by French philosopher Henri Lefebvre. Redmond explained: “The right to the city means ordinary people shaping the spaces they inhabit, not investors treating them as playgrounds.”
According to the Dublin Inquirer, the project began in October 2021 when Marron Estates Ltd applied to redevelop the Cobblestone pub in Smithfield into a hotel. The subsequent protest — in which members of the folk music community carried a coffin to Dublin City Council’s offices — became a catalyst for the film. “You could see how all of these things gelled together. A mix of republicans, punks, trad musicians, all blending together simply because a venue they hold to their heart was in danger of being displaced,” Redmond said.
Rather than framing the debate as “cranes versus creatives”, he chose to construct what he calls narrative “vignettes” — interconnected stories illustrating broader tensions between communities, the state and investors. “They are all windows into how this issue penetrates people's lives in different ways.”
The film culminates at the former St Michael’s Estate in Inchicore, where a tea party marks long-awaited plans for 578 social and cost-rental homes after two decades of delay. “It’s the heart of darkness, which has been going on for 20 years. It’s insane how long it laid fallow and how much money was wasted in the interim,” he said.
Influenced by works such as The Rocky Road to Dublin and the 1920s “city symphony” genre, Redmond incorporates recurring seagull motifs to guide viewers through the capital. “They’re almost moving around the city on your behalf, flying around by seagull.”
For Redmond, the documentary ultimately pays tribute to sustained local activism. “The resistance that they practice isn’t really recognised enough in the sense that holding ground in a space is the most radical thing you can do.”
