PRESS

• DEADLINE by Matthew Carey, May 10th, 2023

  “In all, Sheffield will host 37 world premieres and 20 international premieres, promising its “most innovative documentary offering yet,” according to festival organizers.”

• DocLands 2023: Five Must-See Movies At This Year’s Festival, by Bernard Boo

  “It’s a really terrific film about social injustice around climate change in Miami. Just wonderfully done,” Cooper says.

• THE MOVEABLE FEAST by Stephen Saito, May 2nd, 2023

  Remarkably even-handed, “Razing Liberty Square” makes no secret of siding with community organizers who hope not to pull up stakes on the only home they’ve ever known…  Instead, the film concerns the soul-searching that everyone involved does to chart what they think is the best way forward. …

  If the history of Liberty Square alone doesn’t make its possible erasure worthy of headlines well beyond the city limits of Miami, the film makes a more universal call for alarm when the reason for developers’ sudden interest in Liberty Square stems from rising sea levels due to climate change, nudging anyone living on the coastline to consider homes more inland. By profiling environmental activist Valencia Gunder in addition to McKinney and Quarterman, Esson makes a compelling case that all these issues are intertwined and in watching the inspirational Gunder turn local talks about the ever-encroaching ocean into gripping discourse about the Black community transforming unwanted parcels of land into a place they could call home, a grasp on history makes it seem as if solutions aren’t out of reach and that paradise may not be a place so much as the people around that can come together to make it one.

• 5 DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT WOMEN TAKING ON THE WORLD by CBC Arts, Sabrina Wex, April 28th, 2023

  One of the festival’s top films this year follows three women fighting against a luxury development in Miami’s historically Black and public-housing neighbourhood, Liberty Square. Director Katja Esson weaves together the narratives of a school principal, a climate activist and a single mom to explore the issues of racism, gentrification and climate change.

  Esson is an Oscar-nominated documentarian and it shows. She knows how to highlight big issues with small moments. Town hall meetings become interesting, zoning laws become infuriating and ribbon cuttings become absurdist. The film does such a good job connecting viewers to its central characters that the ending feels like saying goodbye to friends — a rare achievement in documentaries about climate change and housing policy.

• New work from Armenia, Chile, Uganda among Sundance Institute Documentary Fund grantees, SCREENDAILY, October 2022 by Jeremy Kay – https://www.screendaily.com/news/new-work-from-armenia-chile-uganda-among-sundance-institute-documentary-fund-grantees/5175077.article

• Abigail Disney’s Fork Films Funds 11 Documentary Projects, Partners With Peace is Loud, VARIETY Nov 22, 2021 – https://variety.com/2021/film/news/fork-films-documentary-funding-peace-is-loud-1235117561/

• 20 nonfiction projects receive grants from Sundance Institute, BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHER, Oct 28, 2021 – https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/20-nonfiction-projects-receive-grants-from-sundance-institute/

• Sundance Institute Sets 20 Projects As Documentary Film Program Grantees, DEADLINE, by Matt Grobar October 27, 2021 – https://deadline.com/2021/10/sundance-institute-sets-20-projects-as-documentary-film-program-grantees-1234862887/

• Why independent documentary filmmakers want new and improved funding models,CURRENT by Julian Wyllie Julian Wyllie, Reporter, August 5, 2021 – https://current.org/2021/08/why-independent-documentary-filmmakers-want-new-and-improved-funding-models/

• Sundance Institute Sets 10 Producers For 2021 Lab & Summit, Unveils Advisors & Industry Participants, DEADLINE, Jul 22, 2021 by Matt Grobar – https://deadline.com/2021/07/sundance-institute-sets-10-producers-for-2021-lab-and-summit-1234797510/

• Projects from India, Argentina, Kenya selected for 2021 Sundance Producers Summit, REALSCREEN, 22 July 2021 by Jeremy Kay – https://www.screendaily.com/news/projects-from-india-argentina-kenya-selected-for-2021-sundance-producers-summit/5161840.article

• What documentaries can tell us about this summer’s climate catastrophes, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, Jul 08, 2021 by Nina Metz – https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/what-to-watch/ct-mov-climate-catastrophe-movies-20210708-whrcwsgcsbaevd4obk6rmckdjy-story.html

• Climate Change Is A Black Story Too, BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA Weekly Dispatch, May 4 2021 by Leslie Fields-Cruz – https://blackpublicmedia.org/climate-change-is-a-black-story-too/

• Liberty Square’s Legacy WOLFSONIAN-FIU, February 7, 2020 – https://wolfsonian.org/whats-on/events/2020/02/liberty-squares-legacy.html

• International Documentary Association Unveils Enterprise Production Grants, VARIETY, Oct 19, 2020 by Dave McNary – https://variety.com/2020/film/news/international-documentary-association-production-grants-1234808940/

• Redford Center Funding a Record 22 Feature-Length Environmental Documentaries, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, September 29, 2020 by Degen Pener, Deputy Editor – https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/redford-center-funding-a-record-22-feature-length-environmental-documentaries-4068233/

• “In Miami I’ve discovered another part of my culture”, ON CUBA NEWS,  September 24, 2020 by Leydi Torres Arias – https://oncubanews.com/en/people/in-miami-ive-discovered-another-part-of-my-culture/

• “Liberty City Legacies” at Sundance Film Festival 2021, THIRD HORIZON, February 3, 2021 – https://youtu.be/Yde9-htrr3E