Flagwars

A Zula Pearl Films production

Presented by the Independent Television Service (ITVS)

in association with P.O.V./American Documentary

and

The National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC)

National Broadcast Premiere on P.O.V./American Documentary June 17, 2003

Additional funding and support provided by: the Ohio Arts Council, the Jerome Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Wexner Center for the Arts, the Ettinger Foundation, and WOSU-TV Ohio.
related links:
www.pbs.org
www.wosu.org

FLAG WARS
a documentary by
Linda Goode Bryant & Laura Poitras

"The film is fascinating point-of-view storytelling."
- Elvis Mitchell
The New York Times, March 15, 2003

Best Documentary, Grand Jury Award
SXSW Film Festival, 2003

Filmmaker Award, Center for Documentary Studies
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, April 2003

Centerpiece Program
OUTFEST 2003: Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

SYNOPSIS
Flag Wars is a stark look inside the conflicts that surface when black working-class families are faced with an influx of white gay homebuyers to their Columbus, Ohio neighborhood.

Filmed over four years, Flag Wars' "as-it-is-happening" verite style captures the raw emotions and blunt honesty of unguarded moments as tensions mount between neighbors.

The story begins with Nina, a lesbian realtor who lives and works in the neighborhood and is at the center of the changes taking place. The changes include having areas of the neighborhood designated a Historic District (creating restrictive housing codes), an increase in code enforcement complaints, and efforts to reduce low-income housing in the community. Code enforcement is complaint driven and Linda believes the new residents moving in on her block are responsible for the code and zoning citations that have landed her in Judge Pfeiffer's Environmental Court. Linda suffers from cirrhosis of the liver and lives on disability. She refuses to address the zoning violations and her limited resources prevent her from making repairs to her home. This puts her in jeopardy of arrest. Baba, a black Yoruba priest and plumber, is the founder of the community gallery in the neighborhood, which occupies the bottom two floors of his three-story house. The name and address sign that he hangs above his porch is now in violation of Historic (i.e., Victorian) Code because it is carved in an African-relief style. Baba is also prosecuted in court before Judge Pfeiffer and faces fines and possible arrest for refusing to remove his sign. Jim, a working-class gay man, works two jobs to buy a boarded up Victorian house in Olde Towne. He risks his financial future when he purchases and begins renovations on the house using credit cards.

From porch conversations and family dinners to public hearings and street protests, Flag Wars provides a rare and extraordinarily intimate account of the social and human consequences of capitalism and the pursuit of the "American Dream" told through the lives of residents in a community confronted by gentrification.