Slums: Cities of Tomorrow

This title is an acquisition.

Today, one person in six lives in a slum, a squat, or any other precarious dwelling. Governments consider these to be problems and try to stamp them out by building public housing, but most citizens refuse to live in environments that fail to address their reality. Instead, they prefer to construct their own homes using the resources at their disposal.

The documentary Slums: Cities of Tomorrow seeks to address the housing problem in the age of urban overcrowding by looking at structures built on a human scale from a sociological and philosophical perspective. Director Jean Nicolas Orhon gives us an intimate look at the inhabitants and families who, through resilience and ingenuity, have built homes that are well suited to their needs, often finding inspiration from the architectural traditions of their places of origin.

Slums: Cities of Tomorrow takes us on a human and aesthetic journey across the continents: in Mumbai, India, home of the largest slum in all of Asia; in Rabat, Morocco, on what was once fertile farmland; in a tent city in Lakewood, New Jersey; in a trailer district in Marseille, France; and in the native community of Kitcisakik, Quebec.