Q: Why did you decide to tell this story?
A: Liberty Square is located only a few blocks from where I live. When I arrived in Miami in the late 1980s to study film, this exciting place blew my German mind. My first job in the film industry was as a production assistant on “2Live Crew” Hip Hop music videos, all filmed in Liberty City. Following my dream of making documentaries I moved to New York City—but Miami never left me.
When a country is at war, both its people and its biodiversity are under attack. As warfare kills, wounds, and traumatizes countless humans, it also destroys, damages, and endangers soil, air, water, wildlife, flora, and fauna—elements that all humans depend on for life. Warfare is, in short, an act of destruction that disproportionately affects all the planet’s essential ecosystems.
In Chicago, it’s possible to buy an old, deteriorating building for one dollar, provided you promise to save it from the wrecking ball and spend your money renovating it. Not only do you avoid the wasted energy and resources associated with demolition and starting from scratch, but you can also make the building more sustainable in the process.
