Susie Smith is a documentary filmmaker with a focus on urban community, in particular the way that race and sexuality intersect with gentrification and sustainable cities. Her interest in urban neighborhoods and community began in while growing up in Washington, DC in the 1980s and ’90s. This interest has deepened since moving to San Francisco in 1999 and witnessing the complicated relationships between environmental activism, the arts, and the tech sector on the make-up of San Francisco’s Mission District. In 2012 she earned her MA in Social Documentation at UC Santa Cruz, which culminated in the short film, People Live Here. The film explores the past, present, and possible futures of San Francisco’s Cesar Chavez Street and the people who inhabit it. She is currently working on extending the project to the web, as well as assistant producing and editing on the film Free For All about the San Francisco Public Library.
Contributions
Keywords: Environmental Gentrification
Projects: People Live Here
Sites: Cesar Chavez Street