CONCRETE UTOPIA

What defines a city’s identity? In 1963 Skopje was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake, many of its historical buildings were lost forever. Yet, with the help of the international and Yugoslavian community the city succeeded to re-emerge as a kind of modern utopia – modelled after the plan of the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. Today the great architectural efforts of the 60s and 70s receive little appreciation, though once magnificent giants of concrete, by now many of them are crumbling and suffer from neglect. The situation in Skopje is specifically extreme, as in 2010 the government issued a plan to redesign the city in a kind of neo-renaissance style. In our film we are taking a long and patient look at the architecture of the post-earthquake era and ask people what it means to them.