Liberating land from ecocide: “An Island and One Night” (“Une Ile et une nuit”) film screening
“An Island and One Night” (“Une Ile et une nuit”) is a collectively created fictional film about the Quartier Libre des Lentillères, an occupied and self-organized area on former market-garden land in Dijon, France. The screening explores how residents resist an “ecocity” development project through communal housing, gardening, self-construction, cultural activity, and other forms of collective life.
The event also places the film within the broader history of ZADs, or autonomous zones established through militant collective action against environmentally destructive development. Alexis, an anarchist organizer with Ottawa’s Punch Up Collective who has spent time in autonomous spaces, will share the film and offer context for a trans-Atlantic discussion about reclaiming territory, ecological struggle, self-organization, and liberatory ways of living.
When: Sunday, November 8, 2026
Showtimes: The event begins at 3:00 PM sharp and is scheduled to conclude at 6:00 PM.
Tickets: Free, with donations welcome.
Venue: Rhizome DC
Presenter: Alexis of the Punch Up Collective in Ottawa.
About the film: Made over two years by residents and users of the Quartier Libre des Lentillères, the film uses an imaginative, musical, and danced narrative to reflect on the community’s history, daily life, aspirations, and struggles. It follows travelers, vagabonds, and pirates who gather around a campfire to tell stories of reaching an imaginary island that might be made real. The island faces threats from development, capitalism, technology, gentrification, eviction, and borders.
Quartier Libre des Lentillères: The community occupies and has recultivated eight hectares of abandoned land in Dijon since 2010, after a demonstration during which approximately one hundred people cleared and cultivated land threatened by a real-estate project. The area now includes collective housing, market gardening, self-managed gardens, huts, workshops, walks, concerts, parties, and other cultural and social activities. It is also described as a place of struggle, solidarity, and biodiversity.
Film production: The film was self-produced and self-distributed through volunteer participation. It was shot on 16mm film, with writing, filming, and editing carried out collectively and non-hierarchically. Its soundtrack combines original music created during production with earlier recordings by bands that have supported or performed at the Lentillères community.
Context: The Lentillères is threatened by plans from the Société Publique Locale d’Aménagement de l’Agglomération Dijonnaise and Grand Dijon to replace the area with an “ecocity of market gardeners.” The first construction phase has begun on the former slaughterhouse site, while the community continues opposing a second phase that would affect the Quartier Libre des Lentillères.
Screening availability: The film has been shown widely in Europe but is not available online and is generally screened only when a member of the Lentillères collective is present. The event is one of only a limited number of North American screenings possible through people connected to the collective.
Run time: Not specified.
Ages: Not specified.
Accessibility: Not specified.