Bedřiška: mimořádná investiční příležitost

Bedřiška is a former mining settlement in the heart of industrial Ostrava. Since the 1990s, the city had been relocating “problematic” families there, with the aim of gradually emptying the area. But the residents refused to accept this role and transformed a once-feared address into a confident community, bringing together the experiences of mining families, the majority population, and the Roma minority. Together, they run a community centre, work, pay their rent, and care for the place that has become their home.

The local authorities, however, see Bedřiška as “an area with exceptional investment potential.” They have stopped renewing tenants’ leases and begun demolishing the vacated Finnish-style houses. In November 2025, the situation escalates: without warning, excavators arrive to demolish five houses. A few weeks later, the city authorities rule that the demolitions were illegal. Yet no one is held accountable.

At the heart of Bedřiška are Eva (69), her daughter Lydka (45), and Tonda Baláž (62), who, together with the last few dozen residents, refuse to give up hope. The story is also seen through the eyes of local children, who use cameras to film the settlement themselves: they see an idyll where the authorities see a ghetto. Director Kryštof Zvolánek has been following the community since 2022. The film asks what determines the value of a place: the price of the land, or the value of a home – and whether an individual has any chance of standing up to a system that sees their home as an obstacle.