Ayo Akingbade

The films of Ayo Akingbade (*1994 London, lives in London) are characterized by non-linear narratives, often combining archive materials with newly shot images. In Dear Babylon the filmmaker addresses the process of gentrification in her own home city. The film consists of fictitious events that are based on reality but do not make their own fiction as such transparent. Inhabitants of the Dorset housing estate in the East End of London tell of their lives in this social housing development that was originally built with reformist intentions, and where people are now threatened with forced eviction as a result of a fictitious draft law to restructure housing policy, named the ​“AC30 Housing Bill.” The uncertain future of social housing intensifies the housing crisis and the social transformation of the city.

As well as inhabitants of the estate, the film also shows the architects Elsie Owusu and John Allan and the curator Meneesha Kellay, telling three young protagonists about the lack of urban balance in the present renewal of the city of London. People with low incomes are being increasingly forced out of the city, leading to London losing culture, diversity, and creativity.