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Paradise Lost: History in the Un-Making

Paradise Lost: History in the Un-Making

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew

Status

Released

Release Date

Sep 26, 2021

Runtime

1h 24m

Genres

Documentary

Original Title

Paradise Lost: History in the Un-Making

Director

Andy Howlett

Description

When filmmaker Andy Howlett set out with his camera to document the final days of Birmingham's Brutalist Central Library complex, little did he know the rabbit hole he was stumbling into. Decried by the Council as an eyesore, but hailed by Historic England as an exemplar of postwar design, the story of John Madin's concrete colossus and the fight to save it is a curious one. In this psychogeographic detective story, Howlett weaves together archive footage with on-the-ground explorations in an attempt to figure out why we lost Paradise and how it might be regained.