Nothing to See Here: Watts

2026 Official Selection: Arthouse/Experimental – Feature (over 60 mins), Documentary – Feature

Nothing to See Here: Watts

Runtime: 1h 30m

Sixty years after the 1965 Watts uprising, the neighborhood America wrote off has shown us what is still possible.

  • Director(s): Michael Soenen
  • Producer(s): Michael Soenen, Todd Lieberman, Suzanne Malveaux
  • Key Cast: Lawanda Hawkins, Sean Reynolds, Tim Pearce, Kristina Ripatti, Meryland Gonzalez, Erik Loomis, Cornelius Wills, Neci McKinney, Emily Avalos, Tyrone Riley, Celeste Garnica, Iris Romero, Jaime Gregory, Pastor Jose Hernandez
  • Composer(s): Stix Bailey

Language: English

Country: United States

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Sixty years after the 1965 Watts uprising, the neighborhood America wrote off has shown us what is still possible.

After a late-night police ride-along in Watts, an outsider witnesses a version of Watts that never makes the news.

Searching for a way to understand what he had seen, he poses a simple question: what would happen if the people living the story told it themselves?

Twenty residents—rival gang members, police officers, students, parents, and victims of