Emergent City captures the unfolding drama of Sunset Park, a Brooklyn community facing rising rents, environmental injustices, and the decline of industrial jobs. Over a decade, this observational civic epic reveals a microcosm of American democracy as global developers purchase Industry City, an extensive industrial complex on the waterfront, and seek to transform it into an “innovation district.” This shift ignites a fierce battle over the neighborhood’s future, pitting residents against city officials and master planners with diverging visions.

With extraordinary access, the film follows a diverse ensemble of participants—including the local council member, Industry City’s developers, and community members—illuminating the complex intersections of gentrification, climate crisis, and real estate development. It examines how change can emerge from dialogue and collective action amid a landscape often dominated by money and politics, raising critical questions about the fate of urban spaces in contemporary America.

The Live Q&A will feature the following speakers:

OSCAR PERRY ABELLO

Senior Economic Justice Correspondent

Oscar covers policies, programs and businesses that seek to address historical disparities in access to jobs, capital and space for economic use in cities. He previously served as Next City’s editor from 2018-2019, and was a Next City Equitable Cities Fellow from 2015-2016. He is also the author of The Banks We Deserve: Reclaiming Community Banking for a Just Economy, due out in Feb. 2025 from Island Press. Since 2011, Oscar has covered community development finance, community banking, impact investing, equitable and inclusive economies, affordable housing, fair housing and more for media outlets such as Shelterforce, B Magazine, Impact Alpha, and Fast Company. Oscar holds a B.A. in Economics from Villanova University. Follow him on Twitter @oscarthinks.

KELLY ANDERSON

Director/Producer

Kelly Anderson is a Sunset Park based documentary filmmaker whose most recent film is Rabble Rousers: Frances Goldin and the Fight for Cooper Square (w. Ryan Joseph and Kathryn Barnier). Her 2012 film My Brooklyn, about the hidden forces driving gentrification, was broadcast on PBS’ America ReFramed. Kelly produced and directed Every Mother’s Son (PBS, 2004, w. Tami Gold), about mothers whose children were killed by police, which won the Tribeca Audience Award and aired on POV. She produced and directed Out At Work (HBO, 2000, w. Tami Gold), which premiered at Sundance. Kelly chairs the Department of Film and Media Studies at Hunter College (CUNY).

JAY ARTHUR STERRENBERG

Director/Editor

Jay Arthur Sterrenberg is a New York City based director and editor. His documentary editing credits include Academy Award short-listed Dark Money (PBS, 2018), Emmy winning Trophy (CNN Films, 2018), Tribeca award-winning Untouchable (2016), Academy Award short-listed Netflix Original After Maria (2019) and the 2020 Netflix doc series Immigration Nation, which won a Peabody Award and Best New Documentary Series at the Independent Spirit Awards. Jay is a co-founder of the Sunset Park based Meerkat Media Collective. His short documentary Public Money (PBS, 2018) is an observed portrait of an experiment in participatory democracy in Sunset Park.

CARLOS MENCHACA

Menchaca was the first Mexican-American elected official in New York City and Brooklyn’s first openly gay legislator. A strong advocate on immigration, equality, and worker rights, Carlos most recently served two terms on the New York City Council. He successfully advocated for measures including granting non-citizens the right to vote in local municipal elections, strengthening worker protections for delivery-app workers, expanding permits to street vendors, advancing workplace safety with apprenticeship training, cracking down on predatory landlords, and improving street safety for cyclists and pedestrians. Carlos co-authored legislation for New York’s first municipal identification card, IDNYC, which serves more than one million registrants. Carlos also led negotiations that funded the nation’s largest public defender program for undocumented immigrants.

Menchaca holds an undergraduate dual-degree in politics and performing arts from the Jesuit University of San Francisco.