Independent Lens
Eating Up Easter
Threatened by climate change and globalization, remote Easter Island provides a wake-up call for the rest of the world.
Dogtown Redemption
Four recyclers in Oakland struggle to survive in a neighborhood already decimated by unemployment, addiction, and violence.
- Series
- Independent Lens
- Premiere Date
- May 16, 2016
- Length
- 60 minutes
Producer/Co-Director
Amir Soltani
Amir Soltani is an Iranian-American human rights activist who has worked in journalism, philanthropy and business. He is the author of Zahra’s Paradise, a New York Times bestselling graphic novel on Iran’s 2009 protests. Amir studied history at Tufts and Harvard. Dogtown Redemption is his first documentary film.
Co-Director
Chihiro Wimbush
Chihiro Wimbush is a hapa filmmaker based in Oakland, California. Most recently he served as editor of the award-winning Changing Season: On the Masumoto Family Farm. With his wife Meena Srinivasan, he creates mindful media and education content via their nonprofit organization, A Lens Inside. Between chasing shopping carts and other stories, Chihiro… Show more
We fund untold stories for public media.
Learn more about funding opportunities with ITVS.
The Film
For a number of residents in Dogtown, one of Oakland’s poorest neighborhoods, income from collecting and recycling others’ trash is a primary source of income. To other residents, however, recycling only adds to the dirt and noise in the community. Dogtown Redemption explores the complex dynamics of race, class, and systemic poverty as it tells the story of four recyclers who struggle to survive in a neighborhood already decimated by unemployment, addiction, and violence.
