Emergent City: Film Screening & Discussion

Residents of Sunset Park, Brooklyn face rising rents, a legacy of environmental racism and the loss of the industrial jobs that once sustained their community. When a global developer purchases a massive industrial complex on the waterfront and lays plans for an “innovation district,” a battle erupts over the future of the neighborhood and of New York City itself. Directed by Kelly Anderson and Jay Arthur Sterrenberg. Co-produced with Independent Television Service (ITVS).

Kelly Anderson is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker whose documentaries include My Brooklyn (America ReFramed), Every Mother's Son (POV/ITVS), and Out At Work (HBO). Her work has received the Tribeca Audience Award, a GLAAD Award, and a national Emmy nomination. She currently chairs the Department of Film and Media Studies at Hunter College.

Jay Sterrenberg is a New York-based director, editor, and a founder of Meerkat Media Collective. Editing work includes Dark Money (POV), After Maria (Netflix), Trophy (CNN), and Peabody and Independent Spirit Award-winner Immigration Nation (Netflix). He directed Public Money (POV), about an experiment in participatory democracy in Sunset Park.

This is an event of the Spring 2026 Social Justice Academy: Environmental Justice. Learn more about the academy and RSVP for additional speakers, creative workshops, and action events by clicking here.

Visit Politics and Human Rights for more information about the major and minor. For more information, write to erinoconnor@mmm.edu.

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