The History of Concrete

Welcome to John Wilson’s film about concrete – one of the most interesting and entertaining things imaginable!

After a workshop on how to write and sell feel-good films for TV, Wilson tried to use the same formula to sell a documentary about concrete. He meets a man who specialises in removing chewing gum from pavements and some dedicated joggers who run in circles around a single block of flats in Queens. But Wilson also gets led astray, and before he knows it, he’s having dinner with Kim Kardashian. History of Concrete is an eccentric observational comedy that no one else could have made. Here, heavy, grey, and dusty concrete is transformed into a colourful and quirky reflection of the city and its people.

„Ironic, lighthearted, and absurd, yet always sincerely searching, John Wilson’s narrative perfectly embodies the fragmented state of the contemporary world. The materials we use today to build our environments and the way we take care of them can surprisingly accurately reveal why things are going the way they are for us.“ – Rugilė Pranculytė, curator of the Green Competition programme.

PLEASE NOTE: pay-what-you-can tickets will not be available at Romuva cinema.

Sundance Film Festival 2026
CPH:DOX 2026
DocsBarcelona 2026
Visions du Réel 2026
Sydney Film Festival 2026

This film is not available online.