Level Up!

Reach the Youth. Reshape the City.

A FEATURE DOC ABOUT THE

LARGEST YOUTH MOVEMENT

IN AMERICA.

Level Up! traces the transformations taking place in a sanctuary for youth in West Philadelphia, which has some of the highest rates of youth gun deaths in the country.

Nourishing meals, weekly dance battles, a state of the art STEM lab, and a newly opened recording studio: this is the science behind changing the narrative for neglected young people, and reforming the city in the process.

changing the narrative

In 2019 Pastor Aaron Campbell, known with fierce affection throughout Philly as “Unc”, gathered 10 youth leaders to join him on a mission to “turn the city upside down.” Today, LevelUp Philly is a sanctuary for thousands of young people–a space of healing and opportunity.

The result: Youth gun deaths have dropped 40% to their lowest levels in 50 years.

Beyond reform,

                     this is a re-formaton.

Pastor Aaron “Unc” Campbell is the son of a Jim Crow-era farm boy turned civil rights activist. Aaron was raised by a single mother and they struggled to keep the lights on and the fridge full.

While earning an Ivy League degree from U Penn, Aaron spent his college summers mopping the stalls of NYC’s Port Authority and being mentored by loan sharks and gangsters. His self-described "Jekyll and Hyde" existence—balancing pre-med studies with the grimiest realities of street life—gives him rare insight born out of experience.

From the front lines of indigenous gang circles in Alaska to the floor of the United Nations, his work has always been about solutions from within. Now, as the founder of LevelUp Philly, he has alchemized decades of experience, scholarship, and street-earned trust into a holistic sanctuary that directly addresses the youth mental health crisis behind the statistics on urban violence. Aaron is our way into the story, and into the LevelUp Philly world.

the social trophic cascade

In ecology, a Trophic Cascade occurs when the restoration of a force—like the wolves at Yellowstone — triggers a ripple effect that reshapes every level of the ecosystem, even changing the course of rivers.

Level Up! applies this to the social fabric of Philadelphia. With LevelUp Philly as the apex force, it is not just the youth who are being reshaped. It is the adults who meet them, the neighborhoods that house them, and the city that once feared them.

Triggered kids pull triggers.

And healed people heal people.

the team

Ruchi Mital

Director

Ruchi is a three time Emmy-nominated filmmaker. She returns to Philadelphia a decade after producing the Emmy-winning feature We Could Be King. Her work, including Sky Ladder and This World is Not My Own, has premiered at Sundance, SXSW, and Hot Docs. Her credits include high-profile series for HBO (The Case Against Adnan Syed), Apple TV+, and Netflix. Ruchi was named one of DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40 and has served as a mentor for the Sundance Producers Intensive.

Alice Henty

Producer

Alice is an Academy Member and award-winning producer with a career spanning over two decades of prestige non-fiction. Credits include the Oscar-winning One Day in September, the Peabody and BAFTA-winning Welcome to Chechnya (HBO), and the Sundance-winning Victim/Suspect. She produced the SXSW Grand Jury Prize winner The Work, along with acclaimed documentaries Buck and The Tillman Story. Alice is a Sundance Creative Producing Fellow.

Christopher LaMarca

Cinematographer

Christopher is a Cinema Eye Honors winner for Best Cinematography and a magazine photojournalist for Rolling Stone and GQ. Most recently, he lensed the Academy Award-nominated Sugarcane, which won the Directing Award at Sundance 2024 and was acquired by National Geographic. Known for his intimate and immersive visual style and sonic soundscapes, his work has screened at MoMA, Telluride, and Berlinale.

DJ Spinna

Composer

DJ Spinna is a world-renowned producer and curator with a longstanding collaboration with Spike Lee. With over 2,300 music credits, his spectrum spans Hip-Hop, Soul, and House, including remixes for Stevie Wonder and Mary J. Blige. His score bridges Philly’s musical past with its current “re-formation.”

LEVEL UP WITH US!

SIGN UP FOR NEWS ABOUT THE FILM

©2026 SOLANI MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.