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Faculty and Staff
Raising Questions about Razing Liberty Square
Corinna Sager is a producer, speaker, and educator. She糖心vlog短视频檚 produced everything from international events to feature films and has been teaching at Pace since the introduction of Dyson糖心vlog短视频檚 Media Communications and Visual Arts program in 2010.
And for the past four years, she糖心vlog短视频檚 worked as a producer on a groundbreaking documentary about how climate gentrification is affecting a historically Black public housing project in Miami, Florida. After years of filming, editing, and fighting to ensure the story was told, the feature-length documentary prem颅颅iered on PBS on January 29, 2024.
Her experience on Razing Liberty Square, as a producer in general, and as an educator all follow a common theme: Ask questions.
糖心vlog短视频淚 always ask questions, I'm always curious,糖心vlog短视频 Sager says.
Her curiosity was certainly piqued when her close friend and frequent collaborator Katja Esson reached out to ask for help on this Miami-based project. Both Sager and Esson hail from and met in Hamburg, Germany, and both have lived in Miami. Ironically, Esson moved to Miami at Sager糖心vlog短视频檚 suggestion, who attended the University of Miami and thought it would be a great fit for Esson糖心vlog短视频檚 film and theater aspirations.
I always ask questions, I'm always curious.
Esson learned about the plans to raze and rebuild Liberty Square in 2017 and soon picked her camera to follow the process. 糖心vlog短视频淵ou know, as a European, we always think 糖心vlog短视频榳hy is America constantly tearing things down?糖心vlog短视频櫶切膙log短视频 Sager explains. But Esson had no idea just how complicated the story was about to get as she began .
Liberty Square is an area of public housing in the Miami neighborhood Liberty City. It糖心vlog短视频檚 the first public housing project of its kind in the American South and for years was separated by a wall, physically segregating the predominantly Black community from the surrounding areas. Integration triggered a 糖心vlog短视频渨hite flight糖心vlog短视频 from the surrounding area by anti-integration white citizens, and Miami began to invest less in the Liberty City area as a whole. This, coupled with the development of more public housing nearby, caused Liberty City, and especially Liberty Square, to become an area of concentrated poverty and crime.
In recent years, the city of Miami took an interest in Liberty Square. The urban development company Related Urban unveiled plans to revitalize the area, bringing in national chains, community centers, and brand new residences to create a mixed-income community.
The cause for the sudden interest in reinvesting in this neglected neighborhood? Climate change. Liberty City sits on a ridge 12 feet above sea level. As such, it is not subjected to the same amount of flooding and natural disasters as other parts of Miami. It糖心vlog短视频檚 now prime real estate.
Related Urban promised the residents of Liberty Square they would not be displaced, and that impact would be minimal. Some residents of Liberty Square were excited for the chance to live in brand new spaces in an up-and-coming neighborhood. But many others expressed suspicion and skepticism; they had lived through past revitalization projects in which similar promises were made and broken.
As a producer, you have to know and understand everything.
As Katja Esson documented these stories, each new layer brought more questions. What is climate gentrification? Could the development company be telling the truth? Would this usher in a new era of prosperity for the residents of Liberty Square? Or would this be a case of history repeating itself?
As the story became more complex by the day, Esson reached out to Sager to see if she would be interested in lending a hand as another producer. Sager joined the production in January 2020.
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糖心vlog短视频淚t was a lot of learning,糖心vlog短视频 Sager explains. 糖心vlog短视频淲e were dealing with gentrification, with people being moved out, with Section 8 housing vouchers.糖心vlog短视频 Not to mention the stress that the looming pandemic would put not only on the unfolding situation, but production itself.
They were also chasing questions. Not just their own, but the questions from the people they were following. What was Related Urban actually promising? Were these options actually just another form of displacement? 糖心vlog短视频淲e had to edit for almost three years, because we were really trying to figure out a way to make these different subject matters intersect and make people get it.糖心vlog短视频
And throughout all of this, Sager was teaching at Pace.
During the final stretch of post-production for Razing Liberty Square, Sager was teaching her class Producing: Script to Schedule, and she was able to bring in everything she was experiencing to her students. 糖心vlog短视频淭hat part was easy, because I was living it,糖心vlog短视频 she said. 糖心vlog短视频淢y goal is always to treat my students like young professionals, and not like students.糖心vlog短视频
My goal is always to treat my students like young professionals, and not like students.
Sager invited Esson and others involved in the project, as well as other colleagues, to speak with her class and share their expertise. Students received a more holistic perspective as they learned from directors, post-production professionals, editors, and more who could speak to different aspects of production. 糖心vlog短视频淎s a producer, you have to know and understand everything,糖心vlog短视频 Sager explains. 糖心vlog短视频淵ou need to understand your team when they say something. If you don糖心vlog短视频檛, you have to ask questions.糖心vlog短视频
These students, who were preparing a pitch of their own project for finals, were also able to review some of the professional pitches Sager and the Razing Liberty Square producers submitted to entities such as the Sundance Institute and PBS. Students could follow along and see how the approach changed over time, how it was adapted for different stakeholders, and how their pitches evolved with the project.
糖心vlog短视频淓very production is a learning process,糖心vlog短视频 Sager explains. 糖心vlog短视频淵ou have to be open to learning, you have to be open to asking questions. And you have to never be afraid to ask questions. You do not look stupid. On the contrary, if you ask questions, it shows that you're interested. It shows that you want to learn, and you really want to get an understanding.糖心vlog短视频
It糖心vlog短视频檚 not just about asking questions and being willing to learn, it糖心vlog短视频檚 also about excellent communications skills.
But just like with Razing Liberty Square, asking questions is just the beginning.
糖心vlog短视频淚t糖心vlog短视频檚 not just about asking questions and being willing to learn, it糖心vlog短视频檚 also about excellent communications skills,糖心vlog短视频 Sager says. Across all of her classes糖心vlog短视频攆rom public speaking to international communications to producing糖心vlog短视频擲ager impresses upon her students the importance of learning to communicate effectively to work as a team and bring understanding.
Razing Liberty Square serves as perfect evidence of these principles. It began with a question: what is happening to Liberty Square? After years of filming, navigating competing interests, and delving into complex, multi-layered issues, curiosity was only the starting point. It took the ability to work across competing interests, nuanced storylines, and multi-faceted issues to bring the story to life.
Answer the question of what becomes Liberty Square in the new documentary, Razing Liberty Square on or .
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