Panelstory, or How a Housing Development is Born (adv 12)
Part of the Baltic Cinema | Together! Solidarity and Community on Screen season
Thu 19 Nov | 18:30
£6 / £4.50* per person
(adv 12) Dirs. Věra Chytilová Czechoslovakia / 1979 / 1h 36m
A brand-new restoration of famed Czech director Věra Chytilová’s hilarious satire Panelstory.
A brand-new restoration of famed Czech director Věra Chytilová’s hilarious satire Panelstory, which brings her lightness of touch to a subject which touches us all: do you help to shape your environment or are you shaped by it?
Life is a construction site for the tenants of the only partially finished prefab housing development in Prague. Between the buildings, young mothers struggle to push their prams through mounds of mud. And things are not any better inside.
Věra Chytilová’s film depicts one day in that construction chaos through the eyes of a handful of people of various ages who must deal with the hodgepodge of permanently makeshift solutions in what was conceived as a ‘garden city’.
In 2002, the director said: “It’s not a critical reaction to the regime; it’s more actually a view of human behaviour.” Nonetheless, her amusing social satire was held back by the authorities and not shown in Czechoslovakia until 1981. (Berlinale)
‘Wonderfully enjoyable, hilarious, and touching all at once … We find Chytilová at the height of her powers as a filmmaker, combining her characteristically wild shooting style, farcical elements, wonderful use of music, and intricate storytelling abilities’ —Kay Armatage, TIFF
Baltic Cinema is supported by Film Hub North with National Lottery funding on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network
Doors open 18:00; Film starts 18:30.
Pop-up cinema bar open from 18:00 for drinks.
*Concessions: under 18s, unwaged & 65+
Together! Solidarity and Community on Screen
November 2026 – March 2027
In response to our exhibition Close to Home, the films in this season all circle ideas of community and solidarity and ask key questions about the limits of each. They are rooted in stories of working-class lives, from across different countries and times, from Gateshead to Prague via Helsinki. They explore the most basic conditions of life – labour and housing – and the determination, integrity and compassion to fight the erosion of those conditions.
