Two Trentons (2019)

"Two Trentons" is a hard-hitting look at a city desperate to redefine itself - through art, music, education, and prison reform - from its all-too-familiar image as a blighted, urban lost cause of decay, violence, hopelessness and moral decline. Featuring numerous interviews with city planners, clergymen, scientists, mental health professionals, artists, musicians, educators, and non-profit volunteers, the experiences of the people who live, work and struggle in Trenton are movingly expressed with eloquence and urgency. "Two Trentons" doesn't flinch from truth-telling, nor from giving people an opportunity to have their say. Featuring never-before-seen footage of the tragic 2018 Art All Night shooting and aftermath, the film works intellectually, dramatically, and on a visceral level. Filmed across two years, Two Trentons looks at the life-defining struggle between mindsets for the survival of a community.