Hiding in the Walls

Millions of people in America today are living with lead poisoning or complications from chronic lead exposure. Lead-based products — especially paint — are commonplace in houses built before the 1970s, and prolonged exposure can have detrimental effects on health, brain development, and cognitive functioning. A child with lead poisoning is more likely than their peers to struggle academically, experience behavioral issues, and even have interactions with the criminal justice system. Yet despite its known risks, the use of lead-based paint in American homes persisted for more than 50 years after it was banned by the League of Nations in 1922.

In cities like Baltimore, Maryland, where the history of lead paint coincides with a history of racially discriminatory housing policies, the ongoing epidemic of lead poisoning has had a lopsided effect on black communities and neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. The growing awareness of lead's developmental impacts have created a harmful stigma for lead poisoning survivors, and a destructive financial industry has emerged to prey on those who have been awarded legal settlements.

Hiding in the Walls offers a look inside the unseen landscape of lead poisoning in America, re-contextualizing the issue as not merely a symptom but a root cause of many cyclical issues experienced by impoverished communities. It unwinds the fraught history of lead's government-mandated use in low-income housing, how lead poisoning became an acceptable norm in urban America, and follows the adult survivors who are on a mission to reclaim the narrative.

FILMMAKER'S STATEMENT: "Hiding in the Walls pulls inspiration from my personal story of living with lead poisoning, but like many others, I had little knowledge about the disease. After researching and meeting co-director David Sebastiao, the film began to take action. The documentary tells a part of Baltimore's history as it covers an issue that has affected a significant number of Baltimoreans.

Still, lead poisoning is a topic that is loosely discussed. Hiding in the Walls aims to educate its audience about the lead industry and its lasting detrimental impact on society, especially in Baltimore. Also, the film highlights the voices of people with lead poisoning because it is imperative to tell the side of the people directly impacted.

Hiding in the Walls presents an educational, eye-opening, and rare way of viewing lead poisoning."

— Angel King Wilson

Preview link available upon request. Contact [email protected] for more information

Documentary Film: Hiding in the Walls - Video Project

A Film by David Sebastiao and Angel King Wilson

57 minutes

Scene Selection • Closed Captioned

Grades 11 - Adult

Item #: HIW-2019

An inside look at Baltimore's lead poisoning crisis and the intersection of profit, politics, race, and equity

Starting at $89

Licensing Options

K-12 Classrooms, Public Libraries: DVD - $89 K-12 Classrooms, Public Libraries: DVD + Digital File - $139 Colleges, Institutions, Businesses: DVD - $345 Colleges: DVD with Digital Site License - $445 Community Screenings: Please Complete 'Host a Screening' Form found on top menu bar K-12 School District pricing available. Please inquire at [email protected]

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Reviews and Festivals

"Social studies, social justice, and science classes will find topics of interest and learn about a timely and relevant issue."

— School Library Journal

"Eye-opening documentary that shows how rampant discrimination has led to one class's oppression... The film is most suitable for medical research majors... Also an interesting watch for those studying social justice and America's history. Hiding in the Walls can be used in multiple library education programs... Would be a good resource for academic and public library collections and college classrooms. Professors can use Hiding in the Walls to highlight some of the most prevalent issues in today's society that can be traced back to the early 1900s such as race, class, and other social issues."

— Video Librarian

"A thought-provoking examination of a health/societal issue many may have incorrectly assumed was no longer a problem... This film is highly recommended for general adult audiences."

— Educational Media Reviews Online

"Projects like this film, which expose the vast tentacles of environmental racism...are necessary viewing to propel public consciousness"

— Dr. Jess Scott, Associate Professor at West Virginia Wesleyan College

"It was powerful and electric whenever people who had been impacted...were on screen. It humanized the subject and lifted up the voices of [those] who had lived with toxic lead exposure."

— Dr. Lawrence Brown, Author of The Black Butterfly: The Harmful Politics of Race and Space in America

"Hiding in the Walls is an expertly made documentary about the lead poisoning epidemic in Baltimore — a problem that also affects other major cities across the country...Featuring the compelling personal stories of four Baltimoreans directly affected by lead poisoning, Sebastiao and Wilson unfold a complex story of America at large and, in particular, Baltimore's history with racist policies, creating poverty, and breeding a stigma of being raised in a city infested with lead poisoning. If you have a soul, Hiding in the Walls will make you all fired up about corruption, social justice and inaction around inequality, and rightfully so. See it as soon as you can, and share it with your neighbors, friends, and family."

— Tristen Fagg, Teacher at Carver Vocational-Techincal High School

WINNER

Social and Economic Justice Film Festival, Best Feature Film

Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, Gaia Prize for Environmental Filmmaking

OFFICIAL SELECTION

Docs in Progress Community Stories Film Festival

Bronx Social Justice Matters International Film Festival

Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival
Black Girls Rock! Film Festival
Maryland International Film Festival

Columbia Film Festival

Social and Economic Justice Film Festival

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