Spanish Lake and the Middle Class Exodus of North St. Louis County Subject of Documentary

The St. Louis area produces a lot of talented individuals. Often they move away and find incredible success, though most remain tied to St. Louis by family, sports teams or simply the experience of having grown up in the city or one of the great surrounding communities. Then, if we're lucky, they turn their professional focus back home. This is just what Phillip Morton has done.

On a visit to Spanish Lake to see family, Morton explored his old stomping grounds and was experienced its decline firsthand. Closed were his church and grade school. The first home he'd ever known was in foreclosure and had been abandoned. In an interview with NOCO, he described the experience as "surreal, shocking and emotionally devastating". Morton is young and the transformation he witnessed occurred in less than a decade. Then and there he decided to turn his camera on Spanish Lake and film a documentary.