THE ENDS

the ends | short dance film | UK | 2024 | 4'

The Ends is a triptych of short films exploring the urgent housing crises facing London’s council estates. Through a dialogue of movement and dance set against the brutalist architecture of post-war estates, the films confront gentrification and corporate greed while celebrating these communities' resilient spirit and beauty.

Part I: Westbury Estate
Part II: Brown Diamonds & Lobsters (Lesnes estate in Thamesmead) (in preproduction)
Part III: Because We Are Beautiful (Sydenham Hill Estate) (in development)

Part I: Westbury Estate aims to rediscover the textures, patterns, shapes and lines of the social housing estates or what urbanist Nabil Al-Kinani calls "the Ends" - estates that have been recently experiencing intense processes of regeneration in London. The result is the creative contemplation on the collision of the human and urban landscape, their interdependence and (potential) co-existence.

The residents from Westbury estate in Lambeth have been experiencing an exhausting fight with the Lambeth Council for the past decade. The council has decided to demolish the Westbury estate but the local community has campaigned to save their homes and the estate is still standing today.

Featured in Metalocus journal, here.

Directors: Cailin Leigh Manning & Nojus Setkauskas
Producer & Movement Director: Cailin Leigh Manning
Cinematographer & Editor: Nojus Setkauskas
Dancer: Kyra Mills
Music: Nicholas Jaar

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