Street Fight

Directed, Produced, Photographed, Written & Edited by Marshall Curry
2005, 82. min. Video & 35mm
Street Fight chronicles the bare-knuckles race for Mayor of Newark, N.J. between Cory Booker, a 32-year-old Rhodes Scholar/Yale Law School grad, and Sharpe James, the four-term incumbent and undisputed champion of New Jersey politics.

Fought in Newark's neighborhoods and housing projects, the battle pits Booker against an old style political machine that uses any means necessary to crush its opponents: city workers who do not support the mayor are demoted; "disloyal" businesses are targeted by code enforcement; a campaigner is detained and accused of terrorism; and disks of voter data are burglarized in the night.

Even the filmmaker is dragged into the slugfest, and by election day, the climate becomes so heated that the Federal government is forced to send in observers to watch for cheating and violence.

The battle sheds light on important American questions about democracy, power and -- in a surprising twist -- race. Both Booker and James are African-American Democrats, but when the mayor accuses the Ivy League educated Booker of not being "really black" it forces voters to examine both how we define race in this country. "We tell our children to get educated," one Newarker says, "and when they do, we call them white. What kind of a message does that send?"

Street Fight tells a gripping story of the underbelly of democracy where elections are not about spin-doctors, media consultants, or photo ops. In Newark, we discover, elections are won and lost in the streets.

Nominee academy award Best documentary feature 2005	WINNER audience award tribeca film festival
WINNER Donnet award Intl. documentary assn.	nominee documentary screenplay award writer's guild of america
WINNER audience award hotdocs film festival	winner jury prize best intl. documentary hot docs film festival
WINNER audience award silver docs film festival

Reviews:

The Washington Post
"The best American political documentary since 1993's The War Room."

Variety
"It's a hard fast film that needs airing now... Street Fight is briskly edited, imaginatively scored by James Baxter and vastly entertaining... Even if you know the outcome, Street Fight will keep you on the edge of your seat."

The New York Times
"Engrossing...Pulls no punches."

Los Angeles Weekly
"Street Fight amasses the cumulative tension of a crackerjack suspense thriller... It is filmmaking of the first order, a movie with the power to turn hearts, change minds..."

The New Yorker
"Extraordinary... In brief, Marshall Curry, the young director of Street Fight, has hit the documentary jackpot."

Salon.com
"An electrifying, suspenseful film, full of street-level political drama."

Philadelphia Inquirer
"Compelling and occasionally mind-boggling... Curry's picture is a must see." ***1/2 (out of four)