Phantom Heritage
Documentary · History
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The Fall of the I-Hotel
1983 · ★ 8
The Fall of the I-Hotel brings to life the battle for housing in San Francisco. The brutal eviction of the International Hotel's tenants culminated a decade of spirited resistance to the razing of Manilatown. The Fall of the I-Hotel works on several levels. It not only documents the struggle to save the I-Hotel, but also gives an overview of Filipino American history.
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A Rats Arse
2020
Sitting at the intersection of two main arteries of traffic on Melbournes Northside is a giant yellow rat that is pointing, with a long gnarled claw, to its explicitly large bottom. This yellow rat is the mascot for the small business Glenlyon Motors. This unusual mascot and the absence of an explanation for its existence has many residents of Melbournes north side puzzled. 'A Rats Arse' finally answers the question on every Northside residents lips - “Why?!” - and along the way reveals something about identity, values, community, and the people who exist within them.
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Denim
2017
Denim' is a poetic short film by writer, poet and performer Siana Bangura, exploring gentrification and social cleansing in South East London. Through a personal trip down memory lane, visiting the places that moulded her, we learn what happens when the city changes and leaves those who built it behind. Travelling through Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Elephant & Castle, Walworth Road, Peckham, Brixton and of course Shoreditch, 'Denim' is both a personal tale and a wider social commentary.
More info →Everything Is Fine
Evanston, a suburb just north of Chicago, touts its progressivism and inclusion. It was the first city in the U.S. to offer reparations for Black residents and every street corner boasts Black Lives Matter signs, but Evanston’s Black residents have a different story to tell. If you travel to the other side of Evanston, the historically Black ward, ‘For Rent’ signs are indicators of the thousands of Black residents leaving, gentrification encroaching, and streets becoming quiet. It wasn't always this way. There used to be a vibrant, thriving hub for the Black community at the Emerson YMCA. One in every five Black boys in Evanston were members, Nat King Cole played at the Y's prom, and for many residents, it became a second home. That was until the building was burned down in 1980. The destruction happened in the name of progress, despite the Black community's protests.
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One Big Home
2017
On the tiny island of Martha's Vineyard, where presidents and celebrities vacation, trophy homes threaten to destroy the islands unique character. Twelve years in the making, One Big Home follows one carpenters journey to understand the trend toward giant houses. When he feels complicit in wrecking the place he calls home, he takes off his tool belt and picks up a camera.
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2017
A short film about the changing face of London Soho and the implications of gentrification on Mimi, an aging transvestite.
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The Street
2019 · ★ 7.8
The baker, the pie-maker and the diminished long-term community of Hoxton Street face gentrification in this compelling portrait of a rapidly changing London.
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Caged Men: Tales from Chicago's SRO Hotels
2017
Caged. Invisible. Shamed. Trapped. These words mark the tenants, clerks and even the owners of Chicago's last remaining Singe Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels. These small spaces are home for many at the bottom of Chicago's housing ladder. Cloaked in darkness and secrecy, these hotels are often maligned as drug dens and havens for prostitution but the people who live, work and own these hotels have never fully shared their stories. Caged Men is a feature-length documentary which examines the disquieting stories of near-homeless Americans living on the margins and their invisibility in a largely indifferent and, at times, hostile community. It attempts to lend a voice to SRO residents, clerks, owners and to the hotels themselves.
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The Lone Piper
2025 · ★ 6.5
In the midst of the Seven Years' War, a company of hardened soldiers force their young bagpipe player into battle, only to discover that their enemy is not what they expected.
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Flag Wars
2003 · ★ 4.5
Filmed over four years, this documentary focuses on the impacts of gentrification as gay white professionals move into a largely black working-class neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio.
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