When the Minerva class of 2025 arrived in our San Francisco residence at the beginning of our semester, we were told not to turn left on Turk Street. This was the way into the Tenderloin: a neighbourhood infamous for high rates of crime, drug abuse and homelessness.

We decided not to follow this advice. To make sense of the unsettling reality we were witnessing, we walked through the neighbourhood and recorded some of the stories we discovered. The result is a short (25 minutes) documentary that hopes to offer a glimpse into the complexity of the area. We still do not have answers to many questions surrounding the Tenderloin, but we hope to start a more nuanced conversation. The Tenderloin is dangerous yet welcoming, full of suffering and contradictions, but also of colourful, vibrant, and beautiful people. And they have a lot to say.

You can watch the trailer here