Section 14

Section 14 tells the story of a square mile of tribal land in the heart of Palm Springs — land now covered by the hotels, shops, and restaurants that make the city one of the country's top vacation destinations. From 1954 to 1966, under a mayor so popular his statue stood outside city hall for decades, city officials burned and bulldozed the homes of the mostly Black and Latino families who lived there, in what the California Attorney General's Office has called a "city-engineered holocaust."

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Your contributions Your support will help fund the research, travel, interviews, and production needed to bring this story to the screen, and are tax deductible (see below).

Today, more than 14 million tourists visit Palm Springs each year, most unaware of how the city was built. Over the past decade, descendants of Section 14 residents have pushed for recognition and accountability, culminating in a first-of-its-kind restitution framework that will direct millions of dollars to survivors' families and fund a new community and cultural center. This documentary follows that arc — from forced removal to reckoning — and asks what accountability looks like in a wealthy, image-conscious city decades later, and whether Palm Springs' reckoning offers a model for other communities confronting similar histories.

Section 14 is a fiscally sponsored project of the International Documentary Association (IDA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization. Contributions in support of Section 14 are payable to IDA and are tax-deductible as allowed by law. Your support will help fund the research, travel, interviews, and production needed to bring this story to the screen.

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