‘EVERYBODY TO KENMURE STREET’ (Sundance 2026) Timely lesson for the world.

Felipe Bustos Sierra‘s shockingly relevant documentary, Everybody To Kenmure Street, gives Sundance 2026 audiences an authentic view of a historic day in Glasgow.

 

May 13th, 2021, following a dawn raid in Scotland’s most diverse neighborhood, a spontaneous and organically organized protest. It is a sight to behold. After a gentleman positions himself underneath the Immigration van, this quiet street comes to a halt, allowing locals to join a community-led movement. Legendary actress Emma Thompson reenacts “Van Man’s” thoughts and actions that day, going so far as to crawl into his position as she begins to speak. Thompson, who also serves as an executive producer, is fantastic, delivering a perfect balance of narration and desperation.

 

As more and more people join the demonstration, chants of “No Borders! No Nations! Stop the Deportations!” Actress Kate Dickie joins Thompson as the mystery protester who stayed by Van Man’s side the entire 8 hours, then disappeared into the crowd.

 

The film opens with an extraordinary amount of archival footage from past civil rights moments, but the cell phone footage from people on the ground makes up the majority of the doc. Every angle, from down on the street to the windows of the flats above, shows something new. Editor Colin Monie nails it. Making sense of the chaos between the footage, intimate sit-down interviews, and Thompson in a tight squeeze.

 

Things escalate suddenly following hours of peaceful protest. A female demonstrator attempts to put her body underneath a towing vehicle, and only then do the police show violent aggression in arresting her. One neighbor describes the incident as dystopian. Americans can certainly relate, although the two examples of immigration enforcement could not be further apart. The predominantly calm demeanor of the crowds, and frankly, the police, is something we miss in the US these days.

 

Roughly halfway through the film, we delve into the colonial imperialism behind the Kenmure name and how the area was born from slavery. Witnesses describe previous civil rights violence. On the ground, civil rights lawyer Aamer Anwar gets called onto the scene by friends to de-escalate the situation. His governmental connections and the will of 2000+ people moved the needle that day.

 

This story has a celebratory ending. It has cyclical and generational connections that leave an impression on your conscience. Everybody To Kenmure Street is a universal lesson in civility, community, and goodness in the world. We are all watching. But will we all learn? One can only hope.

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