Documentary Short | With Urban-Think Tank | 25’ | 2018 | CH
London, 1972 – the city is growing, and with it the need to house working populations. Post-war values of social welfare make experimenting with new forms of housing possible, ushering in an era of modernist, utopian projects. Among the most daring and innovative, Peter and Alison Smithson’s Robin Hood Gardens estate.
In THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ROBIN HOOD, echoes of experts and decision-makers are heard as we explore the corridors of Robin Hood – their voices, like dissonant radio waves, take turns in expounding the values of the estate, while also arguing about its reputation, significance, and future. Meanwhile, intimate portraits of residents express the emotional, humorous, and complex story of the project. Mixing documentary and fiction storytelling, we piece the history of the Robin Hood Gardens estate gradually, from its initial transformation of industrial land into an idyllic, leafy neighbourhood, to its eventual re-configuration of street life into a vertical context, before turning to contemporary reality.
Less than 50 years later, London is a very different place. The incessantly growing city, powered by financial capital, dissolves the previous generation’s social housing projects, re-development by re-development. An emerging steel-and-glass skyline defines the new norms of housing, rendering notions of social welfare more akin to history rather than to embodied policy. The question arises: where has Robin Hood gone?
London, 1972 – the city is growing, and with it the need to house working populations. Post-war values of social welfare make experimenting with new forms of housing possible, ushering in an era of modernist, utopian projects. Among the most daring and innovative, Peter and Alison Smithson’s Robin Hood Gardens estate.
In THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ROBIN HOOD, echoes of experts and decision-makers are heard as we explore the corridors of Robin Hood – their voices, like dissonant radio waves, take turns in expounding the values of the estate, while also arguing about its reputation, significance, and future. Meanwhile, intimate portraits of residents express the emotional, humorous, and complex story of the project. Mixing documentary and fiction storytelling, we piece the history of the Robin Hood Gardens estate gradually, from its initial transformation of industrial land into an idyllic, leafy neighbourhood, to its eventual re-configuration of street life into a vertical context, before turning to contemporary reality.
Less than 50 years later, London is a very different place. The incessantly growing city, powered by financial capital, dissolves the previous generation’s social housing projects, re-development by re-development. An emerging steel-and-glass skyline defines the new norms of housing, rendering notions of social welfare more akin to history rather than to embodied policy. The question arises: where has Robin Hood gone?
Technical Information 2:39:1, 25’, DCP, Colour, Switzerland
Directed Klearjos Eduardo Papanicolaou
Written Klearjos Eduardo Papanicolaou | Daniel Schwartz | Alfredo Brillembourg
Produced Alfredo Brillembourg
Production Support Hubert Klumpner
Director of Photography Daniel Schwartz
Additional Photography Markus Kneer | Ryan Powell | Sophie Yetton | Michael Waldrep
Editing Klearjos Eduardo Papanicolaou
Original Music Nicola Di Croce
Post-Production Andromeda Film AG | Magnetix Tonstudio
Graphic and Title Design Claudia Sinatra
Directed Klearjos Eduardo Papanicolaou
Written Klearjos Eduardo Papanicolaou | Daniel Schwartz | Alfredo Brillembourg
Produced Alfredo Brillembourg
Production Support Hubert Klumpner
Director of Photography Daniel Schwartz
Additional Photography Markus Kneer | Ryan Powell | Sophie Yetton | Michael Waldrep
Editing Klearjos Eduardo Papanicolaou
Original Music Nicola Di Croce
Post-Production Andromeda Film AG | Magnetix Tonstudio
Graphic and Title Design Claudia Sinatra
Screenings
2020 Festival International du Film sur l'Art (FIFA), Montreal, CA
2020 Festival Habitante, Quito, Ecuador
2019 DADo, Melbourne, AUS
2019 Feminism and Architecture Film Series, London, UK
2019 Kino KOSMOS, Kosmopolitik, Zürich, CH
2019 Architektur.Film.Sommer, Vienna, AT
2019 Arquiteturas Film Festival, Lisbon, PT
2019 Aarhus Architecture Film Festival, Aarhus, DK
2019 Copenhagen Architecture Film Festival, Copenhagen, DK
2019 Architecture + Design Film Festival, Winnipeg, CA
2019 Architecture + Design Film Festival, LA, USA
2019 Architecture + Design Film Festival, Washington DC, USA
2019 Big Sky Film Festival, Missoula, USA
2019 Solothurner Filmtage, Solothurn, CH
2018 UrbanEye Film Fest, Bucharest, RO
2018 ArqFilm Fest, Santiago, CL
2018 Architecture + Design Film Festival, NY, USA
2018 Seoul International Architecture Film Festival, Seoul, SK
2018 Riga International Film Festival, Riga, LV
2018 Milano Design Film Festival, Milan, IT
2018 Rotterdam Architecture Film Festival, Rotterdam, NL
2018 ArchFilm Fest, London, UK
2020 Festival International du Film sur l'Art (FIFA), Montreal, CA
2020 Festival Habitante, Quito, Ecuador
2019 DADo, Melbourne, AUS
2019 Feminism and Architecture Film Series, London, UK
2019 Kino KOSMOS, Kosmopolitik, Zürich, CH
2019 Architektur.Film.Sommer, Vienna, AT
2019 Arquiteturas Film Festival, Lisbon, PT
2019 Aarhus Architecture Film Festival, Aarhus, DK
2019 Copenhagen Architecture Film Festival, Copenhagen, DK
2019 Architecture + Design Film Festival, Winnipeg, CA
2019 Architecture + Design Film Festival, LA, USA
2019 Architecture + Design Film Festival, Washington DC, USA
2019 Big Sky Film Festival, Missoula, USA
2019 Solothurner Filmtage, Solothurn, CH
2018 UrbanEye Film Fest, Bucharest, RO
2018 ArqFilm Fest, Santiago, CL
2018 Architecture + Design Film Festival, NY, USA
2018 Seoul International Architecture Film Festival, Seoul, SK
2018 Riga International Film Festival, Riga, LV
2018 Milano Design Film Festival, Milan, IT
2018 Rotterdam Architecture Film Festival, Rotterdam, NL
2018 ArchFilm Fest, London, UK