top of page

Media Coverage

Screen Shot 2019-11-22 at 11.26.27 AM.pn

What has happened in the Central District...is not unique. It is happening in other parts of the country," says journalist Enrique Cerna on the Seattle Channel. The Central District and On the Brink were a focus of a segment on a show celebrating Seattle's sesquicentennial. The segment featured Jesdarnel "Squirt" Henton and Donald King who appeared in On the Brink and Jeff Shulman who produced and co-directed the film. "We need to be seen again in this area,” says Henton. Watch the segment on Youtube.

Seattle Channel
Screen Shot 2019-11-22 at 11.01.21 AM.pn
Screen Shot 2019-06-07 at 12.26.40 PM.pn
Northwestern Magazine

“Seattle’s Central District story is truly an American story,” says Jeff Shulman, producer and co-director of On the Brink. Learn more about one of the filmmakers in this story available on the Northwestern Magazine website

International Examiner

“I think anytime you’re losing a community, you’re losing a part of the city,” says Steven Fong, co-director of On the Brink. Learn more about the person behind the camera in this story available on the International Examiner website. 

"The regret and the grief that you hear there is just so palpable,” says Kim Malcolm, host of KUOW's All Things Considered. Malcolm interviewed On the Brink producer Jeff Shulman and Donald King, who is featured in the film. In the interview, which aired twice on June 6th, King noted the invisibility of African Americans in popular media throughout the decades and Malcolm praised the archival images from the film as "so evocative." The interview touched upon the reasons for hope in Seattle's Central District. Check out the full interview online on KUOW's website.

KUOW
Screen Shot 2019-06-07 at 1.56.43 PM.png
Screen Shot 2019-06-07 at 1.30.38 PM.png
Screen Shot 2019-06-06 at 9.00.41 AM.png
NewDayNorthwest.jpg
Screen Shot 2019-06-05 at 10.05.31 AM.pn
The Stranger

Listed as a film "worth watching," The Stranger recommends the "documentary on Seattle's Central District, a onetime bastion of African American and immigrant communities, currently in the course of rapid gentrification and the subject of fierce debates on displacement, cultural erasure, and housing justice." See the write-up on The Stranger's website. 

KNKX

"It tells the story of a neighborhood that hummed with black-owned businesses, from Helen’s Diner, famous for soul food, to Mr. Gideon's drugstore, where kids would sip malts," Ashley Gross discussed On the Brink on KNKX the morning of June 7th. The segment touched upon the changes in the Central District and the reasons for hope. To see the article and hear the segment, check out the post on the KNKX website.

Crosscut

"The history lesson here is one all Seattleites would benefit from learning," writes Brangien Davis in the Things to Do column for Crosscut. On the Brink is praised as a "compelling new documentary" and Brangien notes the "hopeful determination to do things differently lest the community’s rich legacy live on only in memory" in this June 6th. Check out the full article online on Crosscut's website.

King 5's New Day Northwest

"Please go see this film," host Margaret Larson implored her audience. On the Brink producer Jeff Shulman and Donald King, who is featured in the film, discussed the legacy of the Central District and where there is hope for the future on King 5's New Day Northwest on June 4th, 2019. Clips from the film that gave Larson "a much deeper understanding" helped launch a conversation about what is happening to the African American community in Seattle and in cities around the country. Check out the segment online on King 5's website.

The Seattle Times

After being touched by the film, Tyrone Beason wrote one of his last columns for the Seattle Times about the changes in the Central District and neighborhoods throughout Seattle. Beason noted that On the Brink, "hits you with lots of wrenching lines that lament the steep decline of the area’s black population over the past 20 years." Connecting the movie with his own experience in the Central District and with what he is seeing in communities around the city, Beason wrote, "It’s up to all of us to make sure that the people who make our most culturally rich neighborhoods so distinct have a say in how they change." Check out the full article online on the Seattle Times website. 

bottom of page