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12 Views of Kensal House is a documentary portrait of a working class housing estate built in 1936 as a model of enlightened planning, and which now stands as an archetypal example of inner city decay. The estate's downward path since idealistic conception (under the influence of Le Corbusier, the Bauhaus and the Socialist
utopianism of the 1930s) is traced through interviews with the architect, Maxwell Fry, and tenants (old and new), as well as some
remarkable archive footage from a documentary made during the euphoric early days of Kensal House. Peter Wyeth's film, as well as being a fascinating account of one building's history over half a century, opens up wider questions about the social role of
architecture in modern life.
- London Film Festival programme