Kibwe Tavares

Kibwe’s first short film, Robots Of Brixton (a thesis project for his master’s degree) made a big splash in 2012, as it was praised for its outstanding animated craftsmanship and storytelling. Robots Of Brixton follows the robot inhabitants of a degenerated Brixton as they are forced to carry out tasks humans are no longer inclined to do. When police interfere, the fierce and strained relationship between the two sides explodes into an outbreak of violence echoing that of the 1981 London riots. The film won the Short Film Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and was also nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. Additionally, Robots Of Brixton won a RIBA silver medal for its impressive exploration of architecture throughout the film, the likes of Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid have previously been honoured by RIBA.

The word robot originates from the Czech word “robota,” which can be translated as forced labour or slavery. The 3D animation by Kibwe Tavares combines the hard lot of robots in a retro-futuristic, alienated South London with memories of the 1981 street riots in the Afro-Caribbean immigrant district Brixton. “Ghost Town” was the name of a hit by the Specials at the time, portraying this very London. At the end of his short film, Tavares quotes Karl Marx: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”