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RACIST TREES

By Sara NEWENS, Mina T. SON

Documentary - Completed 2022

Racial tensions are reignited as a historically Black neighborhood in Palm Springs fights for the removal of a wall of trees that many believe were originally planted as a totem of segregation.

Festivals
& Awards

IDFA 2022

Palm Springs IFF 2023

Big Sky IDF 2023

Florida Film Festival 2023

Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature

MILLENNIUM DOCS AGAINST GRAVITY 2023

BARQ - Barcelona Architecture Film Festival 2023

- Year of production
- 2022
- Genres
- Documentary, Social issues, Female director
- Countries
- USA
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Duration
- 85 mn
- Director(s)
- Sara NEWENS, Mina T. SON
- Synopsis
- Cut off from the glitz and glamor of Palm Springs, and overshadowed by towering sixty-foot Tamarisk trees, lies the historically Black Lawrence Crossley neighborhood. Allegedly planted by the City in the late 1950’s to line the 14th fairway of a City-owned golf course, these trees have become the focal point of frustration and animosity for locals who see the trees as an enduring symbol of segregation. For decades, residents have been forced to put up with the tangled overgrowth from a species so invasive, they have been officially categorized as a pest by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Until now.
  
  Racist Trees investigates the timely story of racial conflict in an unlikely, liberal pocket of America, uncovering an even darker racist history that few would equate with the city’s progressive image. An intimate, sobering, and at times humorous look at the intersection of local politics, news media, race, class, gentrification, and social justice, Racist Trees reveals a microcosm of racial tension that continues to percolate across the country today.

RACIST TREES

Festivals& Awards

Festivals
& Awards