Priced Out: 15 Years of Gentrification in Portland, Oregon

At a time of skyrocketing racial and class tensions in America, Priced Out is an investigative and personal look at how housing prices are displacing Portland's black community and working families all across the city. The documentary explores the complexities and contradictions of gentrification and the future of American cities. In the late 1990s, Nikki Williams, a black single mother, embraced the idea of gentrification. At the time, her block was filled with drug dealers, and boarded-up storefronts lined her neighborhood streets. Now, a decade-and-a-half later, Nikki's neighborhood has become one of the trendiest places in the country to live. Crime is down, houses have been fixed up, and new bars and restaurants open almost every day. But half the black population has left, and average home prices have gone from $30,000 to $410,000. Priced Out explores what such change means for residents of other communities that face gentrification. (St. Louis International Film Festival)