Films > Dwelling: A Measure of Life in the Atlanta Forest

Hundreds of people occupy a 500-acre forest in southeast Atlanta to block the construction of a privately funded police training center—in what is now known as the "Stop Cop City" movement. As the battle with police and constructions crews intensifies on the perimeter, the forest shelters many experiments in collective and ecological ways of living. Dwelling: A Measure of Life in the Atlanta Forest (Sasha Tycko, 2023, 40m) follows one such experiment, as a forest defender attempts to build a hut by hand while he imagines a future lived off-the-grid. Made during long-term fieldwork among activists, the observational film explores how the utopian spirit of the movement meets the practical challenges of living in the forest. By patiently following the building process over several months, the film contemplates the nature of work, technology, and making a home in the midst of political struggle.

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Image, sound, editing: Sasha Tycko
Additional sound recording: Marion Lary
Sound mixing: T. Sweeney

Past screenings:
9/11/26 - International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE), Lisbon, Portugal
10/12/25 - Buietenplaats Brienenoord, Rotterdam
9/16/25 - Hyperreal Film Club, Austin, TX
8/17/25 - NOoSPHERE Arts, Brooklyn, NY
6/26/25 - Flaherty Seminar, DCTV, NY, NY
5/10/25 - 69a, Brattleboro, VT
4/23/25 - Tufts University, Somerville, MA
4/8/25 - Watauga Public Library, Boone, NC
2/2/25 - Spectacle Theater, Brooklyn, NY
1/17/25 - Institute 193, Lexington, KY
5/16/24 - Block Cinema, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
4/18/24 - Emory University, Atlanta, GA
3/6/24 - Central Cinema, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
2/23/24 - Arcata, CA
1/19/24 - Pilsen Community Books, Chicago, IL
1/18/24 - Irma Freeman Center, Pittsburgh, PA
1/11/24 - Bolo Bolo, Athens, GA
12/10/23 - South Bend Commons, Atlanta, GA

Press & Hearsay:

"Ethnographic Slow Cinema: On filming in the Stop Cop City forest occupation," Lime, 2025

“Dwelling within the Invasion,” Mergoat Magazine 2 (1), 2024 [PDF]

"A new genre: anarchist slow cinema" - Mark Krotov, editor of n+1

Please send me an email (under "Contact") if you would like to set up a screening at your college campus, public library, diy venue, micro-cinema, art gallery, book store, infoshop, or multiplex, etc.