Everybody to Kenmure Street | 2026 Sundance Film Festival Review

Good Neighbours: Sierra Highlights Glasgow’s Proud Grassroots Protesting History with Endearing Yet Slight Doc

With immigration unlikely to fade as a pressing issue in the U.K. anytime soon, Chilean-Belgian filmmaker Felipe Bustos Sierra’s sophomore documentary carries a strong sense of urgency. Through talking heads interactions with protesters, reenactments of key moments and a collection of phone footage, Sierra urgently recalls a day in which the diverse community of Pollokshields stopped their neighbours getting cruelly deported. An eventually rousing portrayal of resistance and collective empathy, Everybody to Kenmure Street meanders and grows repetitive, but its message should touch world auds with its message of love and inclusion.

In May 2021 the U.K home office sent a van with “IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT” stamped across the side to the tiny local Scottish road of Kenmure Street. The intention was to deport two Sikh men of Indian origin but after a few locals noticed what was happening the resistance of the people eventually snowballed into one of the largest grassroots protest in modern Scottish history. Word gets out through various social media platforms, an earlier protester, Tab, livestreams the situation on Facebook and a man jumps underneath the van in order to stop it from moving. Not unlike the Arab Spring, it is a fascinating examination of mobilizing protesters in real-time where smart phones empower the resistance. Pieced together through crowd sourced footage with the drama largely unravelling at a satisfying pace that builds and builds along with the outrage. As the crowds swell on Kenmure Street the more cowardly, intolerant and unnecessary law enforcement becomes.

Archival footage from the story of “The Glasgow Girls” in 2005 chronicling local Glaswegian schoolgirls who fought to stop their young friend Agnesa getting deported is interspersed along with various other acts of resistance that have taken place in urban pockets of Scotland. It speaks to the proud history of the city of Glasgow and explains why the protesters will never back down. Their resilience is infectious and there’s a duty of care surrounding the protest, people set up a snack station at the local bus stop and a nurse constantly checks on the man under the van’s wellbeing. Those that wanted to remain anonymous give accounts of the day – while the man beneath the van is unexpectedly played by producer Emma Thompson, with Kate Dickie appearing as the nurse. There’s something jarring about seeing such a well known figure explain the actions of an everyday hero.

Though its story of collective resistance to injustice is compelling, the interviews and imagery grow repetitive, particularly in a sluggish midsection that leans too heavily on an oral history of Glasgow’s Mandela support and a threatened swimming pool as a mirroring device. Everybody to Kenmure Street is at its strongest when it foregrounds eloquent voices like Pakistani-British activist and lawyer Aamer Anwar, who incisively articulate immigrants’ role as scapegoats and the film’s core ideas. Despite its flaws, the film’s affirmation of immigration and shared humanity feels rare, timely, and quietly powerful in a divided Britain.

Reviewed on January 27th – 2026 Sundance Film Festival (41st edition) – World Cinema Documentary Competition section. 98 mins.

★★★/☆☆☆☆☆