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An Emmy award-winning documentary filmed over eight years that follows Terrance Roberts, a former gang member who spent a decade in prison before getting out and returning to his northeast Denver community. There he seemingly turned his life around, becoming a nationally renowned anti-violence activist, steering youth away from the road he had taken.


But during a peace rally at a famous landmark in the neighborhood, Holly Square, he shocked Denver by shooting a young gang member he was working with. The film seeks to understand what happened, and follows the case and the aftermath in the neighborhood, where stunning revelations about the day of the shooting begin to surface.


As Terrance heads to trial facing life in prison and the media seem unwilling to believe his self-defense plea, this film uncovers evidence of a plot to target Terrance that is akin to a "new Cointelpro," a systematic and deliberate effort by Denver law enforcement, elected officials and developers to take out community leaders, even by violence.


The film was the winner of multiple awards, including the IRE award, a top national investigative journalism award.


Director Julian Rubinstein also wrote an award-winning book on the case and the neighborhood, The Holly: Five Bullets, One Gun and the Struggle to Save an American Neighborhood, which was a New York Times “Editors’ Choice.”

  • Year
    2022
  • Runtime
    103 minutes
  • Language
    English
  • Country
    United States
  • Social Media
  • Director
    Julian Rubinstein
  • Screenwriter
    Julian Rubinstein, Chelsea Jackson, Lyman Smith
  • Producer
    Donnie L. Betts, Dia Sokol Savage, Sarah Dowland, Julian Rubinstein
  • Executive Producer
    Adam McKay, Tony Hardmon, Damon Davis, Lana Garland, Todd Schulman
  • Co-Producer
    Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Britta Erickson, Xan Parker
  • Filmmaker
    Julian Rubinstein
  • Cast
    Terrance Roberts
  • Cinematographer
    Tony Hardmon
  • Editor
    Lyman Smith Lyman Smith, Chelsea Jackson
  • Composer
    Daniel Bernard Roumain
  • Music
    Daniel Bernard Roumain
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