Synopsis
In 1989, together with a group of female friends, Su FRIEDRICH rented and renovated an old loft in Williamsburg, an unassuming working-class district of Brooklyn. In 2005 this former industrial zone was designated a residential area and the factories, manufacturers and artists\' lofts were priced out by property speculators lured by tax breaks. Friedrich spent five years documenting with her camera the changes in the area between East River and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. She shows the demolition of industrial buildings and the construction of trendy new apartments for wealthy clients, watching old tenants leave and new inhabitants arrive.

Program Note
In Gut Renovation, Su FREIDRICH completed a political documentary that stemmed from her experience as an urban resident. Williamsburg is a ghetto town in Brooklyn where a number of artists have lived since the 1980s, and it is also the town where the director herself has lived for about 20 years. Beginning in 2005, the town was redeveloped, and factories, manufacturing companies, as well as artists’ studios, have been taken apart to make way for fashionable apartment buildings for the rich. For five years, the director captured the forced experience of moving.
The images contain the director’s memories etched into spaces, home videos, and photographs, as well as her sorrow in having to say goodbye to her friends who are leaving the area. The camera does not simply capture the changes in the environment. Instead, it captures the loss of an entire environment and the neighbors surrounding the life of an individual, memories and history, and a network of relationships, as well as the destruction of an aspect of one’s life. Director FREIDRICH arranges witty captions, music, and her direct commentary throughout the film, creating moments infused with her unique sense of humor and keen analysis. This documentary is a precious record of a privileged urban lifestyle where capital is arranged, yet rights are revoked. [HONG So-in]