Evicted!

Through buddleia is the working title of a new film that I am currently developing, prompted by the loss of my home.

For nearly a decade, I lived as a property guardian in a former school in Deptford, South East London. Over time the playground surrounding me was reclaimed: a forest of buddleia took root, moss covered the asphalt, silver lace vine crept across walls and roofs, and clouds of herb robert billowed from cracks in the concrete.

Buddleia plants sculpted the space, knitting together into dense hedgerows, forming archways and a tunnel; splitting through rubber asphalt, some stood alone, like tall trees with thick woody trunks. In the heat of summer, the mass of plants cooled the atmosphere, creating a distinct microclimate.

As the playground was transformed, it became home to many others: birds, foxes, countless insects, a solitary bat, and a resident cat who adopted the playground and school as her own.

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© Anna Molan 2026