The Disappearance of Robin Hood
Director: Klearjos Eduardo Papanicolaou

This documentary explores the origins of and ideas behind Robin Hood Gardens, the London social housing complex designed by architects Peter and Alison Smithson in the late 1960s. The film presents us with the history of the building and its community as intertwined with contemporary urban narratives of the city. Today the Smithsons’ ideas about connecting buildings, users, and sites no longer hold the same value for the authorities. In 2015 the second application to have Robin Hood Gardens listed failed, and in 2017 demolition began on the complex to make way for one of the many large luxury redevelopments unfolding across the city. The housing state now seems destined for preservation in museum galleries and books.

Bloki
Director: Konrad Królikowski

The first feature-length, broad and multifaceted production devoted to housing construction in Poland from 1956 until today. It is, inter alia, a combination of interviews with architects – who designed famous complexes of blocks of flats [in Polish referred to as “bloki”] in Poland – people living in them, architecture critics, and historians. Yet, the film is not only about architecture. For decades “bloki” were viewed differently by consecutive generations of Poles; first as a symbol of desire then as a place you want to escape from. In the film they are presented as witnesses and signs of huge transformations experienced by the country after the war.

Meet the filmmakers for Q&A at the screening.