Whose Streets?(2017)
dir. Sabaah Folayan & Damon Davis
Ferguson, filmed by the people who lived it.
Where to watch: Free: Kanopy, Hoopla, Tubi, Plex, YouTube (ads); rent $2.99-3.99; per JustWatch US (checked Aug 16 2026). Verify.Letterboxd ↗
A documentary about Ferguson, Missouri, in the weeks and months after Michael Brown was killed in 2014, made from the point of view of the residents who organized. It follows activists, mothers and young people in the street and in their kitchens, and shows the tear gas, the armored vehicles and the long, ordinary work of staying. The directors are from the movement and not outside observers.
Why it’s here
The film is a record made by the people it records, not about them. What's punk is that the camera is in the crowd, and the story is told in the voice of the protesters. What's pedagogical is that it can sit beside the news coverage of the same events and be compared with it. Pairs with The Hate U Give, The New Jim Crow and Just Mercy (suggested 10-26). Note: it is openly partisan, it shows violence and the aftermath of a police killing, and it does not include the police or the city's account.
Where This Film Lives
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