New Grenfell documentary shows old footage of residents campaigning for building improvements

Heartbreaking footage of an eight-year-old boy killed in the Grenfell Tower tragedy has been shown for the first time as part of a new documentary.

In 2015, Medhi El-Wahabi was filmed drawing his home in the tower wearing a spiderman cap by Kensington filmmaker Constantine Gras.

His artwork was intended to go on display inside the tower but the eight-year-old was killed along with his four immediate family members in the devastating fire on June 14 2017.

Now previously unseen footage was shown of the youngster – who lived on the 21st floor of Grenfell Tower – in a new film documenting the events that took place before the devastating fire killed 72 people.

Constantine told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Seeing the footage of Medhi is very poignant because it was a young life taken away.

“Some of those people in the meetings [filmed] are not alive anymore. It has haunted me for many years.”

Medhi’s grandmother is among the people to appear in the Channel 4 documentary, Grenfell: The Untold Story – which shows old footage of Grenfell residents campaigning for improvements to their building interspersed with new interviews.

The documentary shows a range of unseen footage including clips of residents who were killed.

The footage includes Grenfell residents fighting for improvements to be made.

Constantine accompanied residents to three meetings including with the then Conservative MP for the area, Victoria Borwick and the council’s landlord’s senior executive in charge of the works.

People who died in the fire are seen in meetings challenging their treatment including Dennis Murphy, Mariem Elgwahry and Steve Power.

Ed Daffarn, who lived on the 16th-floor and managed to escape the fire is filmed asking landlords to improve how it treats residents.

He is filmed saying: “The work has to be done, but they don’t have to treat us the way they have treated us.”

Constantine added: “The main issue at the time was the heating. They had all been given new heaters but many residents were unhappy. They thought it was a fire hazard.

“I was commissioned to make a short promotional film about the renovation. It was meant to be a positive portrait.”

The footage is now being made available to the public for the first time after it had to be inspected by the police to see what items were present in Grenfell Tower.

Footage has also previously been shown to survivors to share lasting memories of their family members.

Grenfell: The Untold Story aired yesterday (Wednesday September 8).

Pictured top: Kensington filmmaker Constantine Gras (credit: Channel 4)