In this feature length documentary we meet the members of The Venice Beach Football Club (VBFC) a band of underdogs, misfits and rebels as they grapple with adolescence, personal demons and their fierce resistance to the gentrification ravaging their neighborhood.

Central to the story is the women’s football team at Venice High AKA The Wolf Pack. Forever the underdogs,  their greatest challenge will be to beat  “the school on the hill” their arch-rivals who literally look down on the Venice community.  Palisades Charter High is an affluent and predominantly white team that stands between Venice and their long sought-after State Championship.

Coached by CHAKA FORMAN, local activist and son of MLK offsider John Forman, they will howl at a full moon as part of their training rituals but their unorthodox methods have lead them to 5 city championships.

Assistant coach Johanna is a former Venice High alum who embodies the grit and resilience of their neighborhood. Raised in a low-income area by undocumented parents, Johanna juggles her own mental health struggles and recent suicide attempt, family responsibilities, and a demanding job, all while pushing her players to succeed both on and off the field.

Among the players is Alex, a talented but conflicted athlete, grappling with the suffocating expectations of her pushy father. As her love for football is strained by his relentless pressure, tensions mount within her family and the team.

Meanwhile, Venice itself is undergoing rapid changes as gentrification reshapes the landscape. Oakwood Park, Home to the VBFC youth program, was built by local Black and Latino residents as  a vital community space during redlining. In the ‘90s the area known as GHOST TOWN was ground zero for gang wars between the Shoreline Crips and the Venice 13. If Families survived the violence, they were torn apart by LAPD harassment and the gang injunctions that followed.

Then came the latte-sipping, dog-walking gentrifiers, and the dawn of the new battle.The park is now overrun by wealthy newcomers who ignore rules and let their dogs damage the field.

When a 10 year old player  is bitten by a dog at Oakwood, the incident ignites a larger conflict over the future of the park. The local elders, a group powerful and resistant women fight to have Oakwood declared a Historic Black Monument, seeing it as one of the last remaining symbols of their cultural heritage organize a protest, but it is met with police resistance, reopening old wounds from battles fought with LAPD and the systemic terror they inflicted  of the neighborhood.

The ensemble drama in the film is elevated to one of Shakespearean redemption, played out on the increasingly fractured streets of Venice Beach, between the old Venice and the new.

Each thread is full of hope and heartbreak in a community divided.

The interwoven personal narratives create a unique voice that is cinematic and emotional rippling with visceral and passionate film making.

In a climactic final match, the Wolf Pack plays their hearts out but falls short of victory. For many, it is their last game before graduation, signaling the end of the support system that has held them together.

Despite the loss, the community comes together in the aftermath, showing pride in their journey. The fight to preserve Oakwood Park continues, but the outcome remains uncertain, leaving a bittersweet sense that, even if they win the battle, the war against gentrification and cultural erasure may already be lost.

With the intimacy of CUSP, the shattered hopes of HOOP DREAMS and the searing commentary of AMERICAN FACTORY, this film is not merely about football. This is an allegorical tale of the nation, asking who are we now and where are we headed as we march towards America 2.0.