brick city 2 (2011)

Available on Amazon Prime and Itunes

Synopsis

In Season 2 of the engaging and dramatic series BRICK CITY, change is a rollercoaster of exhilarating highs and heart-in-the-mouth plunges.  Sundance Channel’s Peabody Award-winning series returns to Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, to explore a question that people everywhere can understand:  how do you continue to change yourself, your community, your city when the setbacks come fast and furious?  The six one-hour episodes of BRICK CITY follow Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Police Director Garry McCarthy and Newark citizens from across the socioeconomic spectrum to tell a story of resilience, resolve and optimism in the face of political, economic, and personal upheaval.   

The first season of BRICK CITY concluded with the 2008 presidential election and the birth of a baby on New Year’s Eve.  Violent crime was down sharply and, despite the financial meltdown and the looming budget crisis, there was optimism in the air.  The new season picks up the thread in October 2009 as the political pendulum is swinging and the challenges facing Newark are mounting.  Mayor Booker is seeking a second term, and he’s also looking to settle down.  After years in a bachelor pad, he’s finally bought a home, a grand old beauty in dire need of repair.  The 2010 campaign season does not begin auspiciously for the mayor: the mortgage crisis is boiling, a former deputy is indicted, and the opposition lambastes him in the streets and on the campaign trail.  Booker’s opponents are also targeting his Bronx-born Police Director, Garry McCarthy, who in spite of a great track record, is viewed with deep suspicion by many in Newark.  In the midst of all this, Booker and his team are grappling with the city’s groaning deficit and the drastic cuts needed to reduce it.

Change on the personal level is every bit as dramatic and unpredictable.  For Dashaun “Jiwe” Morris – gang memoirist, charismatic youth mentor, devoted family man — the turnaround has been profound.  But now, everything he loves and has worked for is at stake: he’s been charged with attempted murder.  Jiwe has a formidable ally in his defense attorney, Brooke Barnett, a fearless, funny dynamo who works and plays at full tilt.  Brooke has made some big changes in her life, too; the self-described free spirit is happily in love and living with her new partner, Maggie.  Meanwhile, non-active gang members Jayda and Creep are busy with an adorable infant daughter, two bright grade school-age children and Jayda’s burgeoning non-profit mentoring program, Nine Strong Women.  But there are factions on both sides of the law that would be just as happy to see the couple fail.

Newark, New Jersey is known BRICK CITY for its architectural style, urban strength and human resilience.  The city has consistently been a battlefield of high stakes drama, and in the wake of the riots and rebellion that exploded in 1967, it became a symbol of American urban decline.  Over the past several years, the city’s ambitious urban renewal projects have captured national attention and acclaim.  This has resulted in new business development as well as philanthropic gifts, including the recent donation of $100 million dollars to the Newark school system from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

BRICK CITY is produced and directed by award-winning filmmakers Marc Levin and Mark Benjamin who also created the series.  Academy Award®-winning actor and filmmaker Forest Whitaker executive produces. 

Awards

TIME Top Television Shows of 2011 (Honorable Mention)

2012 News and Documentary Emmy in the category "Outstanding Informational Programming - Long Form" (nominated)