Robots of Brixton:

A Fictional Future

Inspired By The Past

June 30, 2011 By disaster 

Check out this brilliant short animated film by director Kibwe Tavares and the Factory Fifteen creative studio. This one’s got hints of films like I, Robot and Dark City meets Avatar but in Brixton, South London’s district famous for its inner city culture and the infamous 1981 riot that took place there, photos of which were artistically woven into the film.

Brixton has degenerated into a disregarded area inhabited by London’s new robot workforce – robots built and designed to carry out all of the tasks which humans are no longer inclined to do. The mechanical population of Brixton has rocketed, resulting in unplanned, cheap and quick additions to the skyline.

The film follows the trials and tribulations of young robots surviving at the sharp end of inner city life, living the predictable existence of a populous hemmed in by poverty, disillusionment and mass unemployment. When the Police invade the one space which the robots can call their own, the fierce and strained relationship between the two sides explodes into an outbreak of violence echoing that of 1981.