The Safety Town Movie
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For nearly a century, children have learned the rules of the world inside miniature cities built just for them. Streets. Scaled-down buildings. Stoplights. Crosswalks. Pedal cars. And then the harder lessons: stranger danger, fire safety, personal boundaries, poison prevention, 911. The whole terrain of a child's vulnerability, made navigable before they ever have to face it alone. The Safety Town Movie is a feature verité documentary about what that place holds, the generations it has shaped, the communities that kept it alive, and at its center, a 91-year-old matriarch named Dorothy, who has fought to bring it to the world. A finalist for the prestigious Rogovy Millar / Packan Film Grant, The Safety Town Movie is a film about small places that quietly hold enormous things.
Team
Claudia Rasckhe
Director of Photography
Patrick Hamm
H Spencer Young
Writer/DirectorProducerH Spencer Young, with over 30 years in filmmaking, has built a rich career as a writer, director, interdisciplinary artist, cinematographer, editor, producer, educator, and mentor, working on a wide range of global projects. His dedication to socially conscious filmmaking is underscored by his certifications in child education and his role as a Mandated Reporter, stemming from his experience as a filmmaking and visual art teaching artist for hundreds of children across New York City. Spencer, also a published author and exhibited artist, notably at Art Basel, brings a unique perspective to his work. His diverse portfolio, featuring commissioned films, documentaries, and music videos, has been recognized in publications like W Magazine, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and The New York Times. Highlights include his global brand film for Hudson’s Bay Company, which told the origin stories of Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor, feature documentary Swing State, praised for its success at the Cleveland International Film Festival, as well as creative films for fashion house Honor and artists like Joan as Police Woman and rapper and poet Mykki Blanco. Spencer edited and sound-designed Samuel in Space for artist Rashid Johnson, which exhibited as part of Johnson’s retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, New York. Spencer’s diverse expertise makes him a compelling storyteller in both cinema and art.
Patrick Hamm is an award-winning documentary producer. His films include Dear Lara (2026; SBIFF), Who I Am Not (2023; SXSW, CPH:DOX; PBS:POV), This Rain Will Never Stop (2020; IDFA, True/False), and Freedom for the Wolf (2017; Slamdance, IDFA). He has also served as executive producer on projects such as Dark Secrets of a Trillion Dollar Island: Garenne (BBC/Arte), Copwatch (Tribeca), and the narrative feature The Man Who Was Thursday (Edinburgh IFF). Patrick’s projects have received support from major national film funds and international grants, including the Berlinale World Cinema Fund, IDFA Bertha Fund, and the Doha Film Institute. He is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents and EURODOC, and holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard University and a B.A. from Yale University. Patrick works across development, production, and story shaping. He serves as Co-Captain of Documentary Features Programming at Slamdance and is a member of the PGA, DPA, DAE, IQ, GIPA, and the Cinema for Peace Academy.
Claudia Raschke, ASC is an award-winning cinematographer celebrated for her signature blend of emotional depth and visual precision. Her work includes Boys State (Primetime Emmy winner), the Oscar-nominated RBG, Mad Hot Ballroom (#2 documentary at the U.S. box office, 2005), Oscar-shortlisted Julia, and Peabody Award-winning My Name Is Pauli Murray. She has lensed acclaimed documentaries and series for Nat Geo, Netflix, CNN, and Showtime. Her images have shaped some of the most iconic nonfiction films of the past two decades, bringing warmth, intimacy, and cinematic scale to stories about real people.