About the Film
The Last Homes Standing: Poison Next Door is a feature-length documentary that explores the history of Wagner’s Point, a once close-knit working-class neighborhood in South Baltimore.
For generations, residents lived in the shadow of chemical plants. Many of them also worked at those same facilities, creating a painful conflict between economic survival and the health of their families. After years of organizing and public pressure, the community was eventually relocated through a combination of public and private funding, one of the first efforts of its kind in the nation.
While the relocation offered an escape from toxic conditions, it also meant the permanent loss of homes, neighbors, and a way of life. The neighborhood itself was erased.
This film centers the voices and experiences of the people who lived through it. It examines both the strength of a community under pressure and the larger systems that allowed such conditions to persist for so long.
The project is rooted in a personal connection: the creator’s grandmother was among those who fought for relocation, and her mother was raised in Wagner’s Point. The film is being developed with care for the residents and respect for the complexity of their story.