PRESS
THE MIAMI TIMES “Liberty Square pitfalls exposed in new documentary”, by Samantha Morell, February 6, 2024
CNN “Hollywood Minute”, Dan Daniels, February 1, 2024
#BECAUSE MIAMI, the Dan LABatard Show (Moderator: Billy Corbin)
THE GUARDIAN “How a Black Miami neighborhood became ‘ground zero for climate gentrification’”, by Joseph Contreras, January 29, 2024
CHICAGO TRIBUNE ‘Razing Liberty Square’ review: Climate gentrification scatters a Black community in Miami as developers move in’, by Nina Metz, January 29, 2024.
CBS MIAMI “Liberty City community, Razing Liberty Square, focus of new Film”, by Nikiya Carrero, January 26, 2024
MIAMI - The Liberty City public housing community in Miami is the focus of a new film.
The movie premiere for "Razing Liberty Square" was held Friday night in Coral Gables …
"A really big message of this film is to say that climate gentrification is real it exists, people are not only affected by the housing crisis, also by the climate crisis."
GREEN MATTERS “What Is Climate Gentrification? 'Razing Liberty Square' Doc Exposes This Issue in Miami”, by Bianca Piazza,
Jan. 26 2024
CHANNEL 10 “Magic City, but magic for whom?’: Film spotlights climate gentrification fears in Liberty City”
Interview on ABC News, June 2, 2023
MIAMI – “Miami is ground level for sea level rise. We are the example of climate gentrification,” community organizer Valencia Gunder explains in the new movie “Razing Liberty Square.”
The new documentary shines a spotlight on fears of climate gentrification, as one of the nation’s oldest segregated public housing projects gets torn down for redevelopment.
But this is no Hollywood drama, this is real life, and some of South Florida’s most vulnerable residents are living it.
ORION MAGAZINE “Stealing Higher Ground: A Portrait of Rising Climate Gentrification”, by Jill Tidman, January 23, 2024
WLRN - SUNDIAL “Broken promises in a Liberty City housing project are at the center of this film.” by By Carlos Frías,
Leslie Ovalle Atkinson, Elisa Baena, January 22, 2024
THE BLACK WALL STREET TIMES “Climate Gentrification spotlighted in new PBS documentary” by Anna Littlejohn, January 19 2024
MIAMI HERALD “How climate and redevelopment are changing Liberty Square. A film captures the tension.”
by Isaiah Smalls II, January 19, 2024
VARIETY “Winter Slate fore PBS Doc Series ‘Independent Lens”, by Addie Morfoot, December 5, 2023
THE WRAP “167 Documentaries Enter Oscar Doc Race” by Steve Pond, December 4, 2023
THE MOVABLE FEST “Composer Gary Gunn”, Stephen Saito, November30,2023
WESTDOC Interview, Chuck Braverman, November 2023
POLITICO Climate Change and the Affordable Housing Crisis by Gloria Gonzales, June 21, 2023
“Katja Esson’s documentary, Razing Liberty Square, shown at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York earlier this month, tells the story of gentrification in another neighborhood — this time in Miami.“
Interview on ABC News, June 2, 2023
New doc reveals how climate gentrification is erasing vulnerable communities
ABC News’ Phil Lipof spoke with filmmaker Katja Esson and climate activist Valencia Gunder about the film “Razing Liberty Square” which tells the story of gentrification in one Miami neighborhood.
https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/video/doc-reveals-climate-gentrification-erasing-192417302.html
CBS NEWS Watch 2023 Human Rights Watch Film Festival documentaries in NYC and at home
by David Morgan
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.
YOUR CALL KALW Public Media / 91.7 FM Bay Area
Razing Liberty Square addresses climate gentrification in Miami by Malihe Razazan, May 8, 2023
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 -
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 -
Sundance Institute Sets 20 Projects As Documentary Film Program Grantees, DEADLINE, by Matt Grobar October 27, 2021 -
Why independent documentary filmmakers want new and improved funding models, CURRENT by Julian Wyllie Julian Wyllie, Reporter, August 5, 2021
Sundance Institute Sets 10 Producers For 2021 Lab & Summit, Unveils Advisors & Industry Participants, DEADLINE, Jul 22, 2021 by Matt Grobar
Projects from India, Argentina, Kenya selected for 2021 Sundance Producers Summit, REALSCREEN, 22 July 2021 by Jeremy Kay.
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
"Liberty City Legacies" at Sundance Film Festival 2021, THIRD HORIZON, February 3, 2021
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 -
Redford Center Funding a Record 22 Feature-Length Environmental Documentaries, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, September 29, 2020 by Degen Pener, Deputy Editor
“In Miami I’ve discovered another part of my culture”, ON CUBA NEWS, September 24, 2020 by Leydi Torres Arias -