Filmmakers Dr. Zigmond Kozicki and Dr. Stephanie Baiyasi-Kozicki interviewed people in Saginaw, Michigan, and public health experts to develop a theory about violence. Through persistent observations, the documentary provides a window for the viewer to understand violence as a contagious process. This movie begins with an emotional plea by a mother on the steps of Saginaw City Hall to find the killers of her son who had been gunned down in broad daylight. The movie expands the view of violence as affecting more than this unfortunate mother. This movie allows the viewer to relate to the idea that violence is like a virus in this community. Stopping this spread of death and pain requires everyone, not just law enforcement, to act to “take the city back” from violence. Music from blues star Larry McCray and the Saginaw Peace Coalition. Saginaw Rising is a movie that utilizes an observational perspective to identify the nature of violence. The movie applies epidemiological theory (the occurrence and distribution of health-related events in a specified population) to explain the ongoing chronic outbreak of violence in Saginaw, Michigan, USA, in 2012. Through ethnography (description and interpretation of a cultural or social group or system) the filmmakers examine violent behavior in one of the most violent cities in America. The movie provides a focused history to elucidate why violence persists in this community. Solutions to stop violence are provided. Interviews with Saginaw residents and law enforcement professionals, religious leaders, political leaders and business leaders describe violence in Saginaw. The ongoing murders in the community and the unwritten street wisdom to avoid snitching for fear of reprisal produce a classic approach-avoidance conflict. The movie also highlights insights from national experts including U.S. District Attorney Barbara McQuade, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Joe Torre, Dr. Sandra Bloom, Dr. Gary Slutkin, Dr. Richard Dolinski, Dr. April Zeoli, Dr. Jesenia Pizarro, Dr. Georges Benjamin, Dr. Howard Koh, Dr. Gail Christopher, Robert Listenbee, Jr., U.S. Senator Carl Levin, U.S. Representative Dan Kildee and U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow.