Blight (1996)

• 70%
• 1996
• Documentary
• John Smith

The building of the M11 Link Road in East London provoked a long and bitter campaign by local residents to protect their homes from demolition. Blight was filmed during this period, while houses were demolished and land cleared. Using recordings made of people's reminiscences, the score incorporate fragments of speech and natural sounds. The film is based on real events which transformed people's lives, but it is much more than a conventional documentary. Enigmatic stories are created and the mundane is transformed into the marvellous. The music and images are woven into an elegiac evocation of memory and loss.