The Robots of Brixton, from Kibwe X-Kalibre Tavares, is a short, poignant movie set in a run-down and dilapidated Brixton (London) where the robot workforce, who perform tasks that humans no longer wish to do, live in squalor.
The film mixes great animation with human cinematography and flash back footage to the real Brixton riots that occurred in 1981. With a large immigrant population, poor housing and low income, with racial tensions high and a poor economic outlook in the early 1980s, the mood in Brixton was ripe for riotous tension.
Similarly, this movie follows young robots surviving in a harsh inner city, living in poverty, disillusionment and mass unemployment. With overtones of The Matrix (when the young robots get ‘digitally’ high and dream of green space), the young robots bliss is broken when robot police invade the young, disheartened robots space and violence erupts.
The movie was made with support from David Hoffman, photographers of the Brixton riots by Mourad Bennacer, and sound designer DJ Hiatus. A great film perhaps for modern day Luddites who are fearful for a world where technology could be the ultimate ruin.
Via io9 & Kibwe Tavares
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