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PRESS

  • Ms. Magazine, “Great Feminist Documentaries Streaming in 2024” by Aviva Dove-Viebahn December 19, 2024

    An effective and ethical documentarian gains the trust of her subjects, developing a rapport that gives them space to show and reflect upon the intimacies of their lives. The strength of this relationship, and its possibilities, shines through in Katja Esson’s new film……Through their [the protagonists’] eyes, and the testimony of dozens of other residents, Esson’s film offers an incisive reflection on the price of gentrification and the impacts of climate change on communities of color.

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."

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.

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://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/video/new-doc-reveals-climate-gentrification-erasing-vulnerable-communities-99802716

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/video/doc-reveals-climate-gentrification-erasing-192417302.html

Youtube

  • 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.”

  • 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.