Against Los Angeles's race to remake itself for the 2028 Olympic Games, a filmmaker traces a century of displacement while searching for the birth mother she never really knew.
Synopsis
Olympic Blvd is a feature documentary about Los Angeles as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games. Transit lines are expanding. Venues and neighborhoods are changing. Communities in the Palisades and Altadena are rebuilding after fire. Filmmaker Destinee Lee Handly follows what those changes mean for the people living through them.
The film returns to the same streets, encampments, transit projects, and construction corridors over time. It looks at Los Angeles's history of development and displacement, from the 1932 and 1984 Games to the present. Archival footage and AI-assisted visual reconstruction show how the city once looked and imagine how its landscape may look in 2028.
At the center is Handly's reconnection with Sheri, her birth mother, whose life has included incarceration, homelessness, and unstable housing before she finds stable housing. Through community voices, intimate observation, and a personal family story, Olympic Blvd asks a direct question: who benefits when Los Angeles rebuilds?
About the project
This film project documents the changing landscape of Los Angeles as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games, amidst a complex and concerning homelessness crisis. The documentary follows two intertwined narratives: the investigation into the city's relocation programs aimed at clearing the streets before the Olympics and the director's personal journey to reconnect with her birth mother, Sheri, a lifelong product of cyclical displacement and incarceration in Northern California. This film serves as both a deeply personal story and an examination of wider themes of urbanization, displacement, and the human impact of mega-events.
As the film progresses, drone footage will depict how many Angelenos perceive the chronic issue of homelessness, we often overlook the pervasive situation as we focus on our daily lives. The problem is immense, yet we continue to pass by it. Initiating with drones that visually bridge the gap, the film will gradually introduce close-ups to convey emotional depth. Preserving character dignity will guide the framing, focusing on surroundings and bodies until trust is built, culminating in honest portrayals. This careful approach is critical in illuminating the complexities of individual lives intertwined with broader urban transformation. The film carries historical weight, using archival footage from the 1980s and news broadcasts to contextualize today's challenges, aiming to elicit contemplation regarding the realities of urban change in the wake of the Games.
The filmmakers
Destinee Lee Handly
Director / Producer
Oakland-born, Bay Area-raised, and Los Angeles-made, Destinee Lee Handly is a filmmaker by necessity. She studied psychology at USC, where she founded InnerCinema Society, a 501(c)(3) organization that uses the reach of film to create a more therapeutic impact.
Her career spans every level of production, with work for Apple TV, Amazon, Microsoft, HBO, Summit, Prettybird, and others. She has also spent six winters abroad as an international journalist and nearly three seasons hosting, producing, and co-directing for LATV. Olympic Blvd is her first feature film, which she has been independently making since 2023 because the story could not wait.
Help make Olympic Blvd
Every gift goes to this project through Cinematography for Actors Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
