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Oakland Cinema Blooming Despite Severe City Cuts by Doniphan Blair and Lorenzo Estébanez
Ami ZIns, the hardest working woman in Oakland show business, may be out of a job if the Oakland Film Office closes; behind her is the Paramount, Oakland's premier movie palace. photo: D. Blair
Oakland has so many filmmakers and there is so much cinema interest here that when CineSource surveyed Oakland two years ago, we got a 500% spike in web hits. Yes the Great Recession hit Oakland hard but its cineastes have been hustling even harder and the city's overall atmosphere is improving.
Unfortunately, the city itself is broke. Indeed, some officials propose closing most of the libraries and cultural funding, including the beloved Oakland Film Office. As of this writing, however, film commissioner Ami Zins is still at her desk, helping everyone from Hollywooders to indies with equal parts enthusiasm, community expertise and red-tape cutting.
In March, the old West Oakland train station was transformed into 1930s Spain for Phillip Kaufman's epic romance “Hemingway & Gellhorn” (2012). With A-Listers Nicole Kidman, Clive Owen and Robert Duvall, it was the biggest feature to hit Oakland in recent memory, and great for local film businesses. The twenty-plus businesses at the Oakland Film Center, only a few blocks away, were overjoyed to see the "Hemingway" trucks pull in, although, in point of fact, they've been busy all spring— mostly car and computer commercials. Plus, they recently withstood an attempt to evict them from the army base's redevelopment plan. “Big Sur,” another Hollywood feature, also filmed in Oakland this year, and television star Blair Underwood is arriving at the end May to star in "Shadow Fight," Carmen Madden's second film.
Then there are the DIYers like Jaylani Roberts, who just finished her feature "Mercury Rules," about coke kingpins in the crack '80s; the French contingent, from old schooler Daniel Julien, who's making a feature about an Algerian woman traumatized by war, to fresh face Yoram Savion, who specializes in edgy dance videos; the nationally-known Youth Radio, which just won a Peabody Award and opened a web portal; the Oakland International Film Festival, which recently completed its 10th year of fascinating new or little known fare, often from directors of color; and the Paramount Theater, which has been running an excellent Hollywood's Golden Era series.
Even Cary Fukunaga, the hottest director to emerge from Oakland (albeit now a Brooklyn boy), whose action-packed and heartbreaking "Sin Nombre" (2009) was a tour de force of gritty mash-up cinema (which should be an Oakland trademark), is back—with a big budget period piece, Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre," no less. Produced by BBC Films and Focus Features and highly lauded by reviewers, "Jane Eyre" opened large on the first Friday of May—Oakland's monthly gallery night, coincidentally.
The Great Wall of Oakland shows art films during Oakland's monthly 'Murmur,' or open gallery night. photo: Great Wall of Oakland
The Oakland Art Murmur, as it is known, blew up two years ago and now attracts thousands to view the art at dozens of galleries. Although they are scattered across downtown, most of the galleries are around 23rd and Telegraph where the capitalist Johansson Project and the anarchist Rock, Paper, and Scissors face off across the street which closes for the Murmur. From the dynamite street food and musicians to the actual art, which has been improving dramatically, it's emerging culture in vibrant action. A cinema component, The Great Wall of Oakland, projects art films on a wall ten stories high.
Times were tough, terrible even, when CineSource surveyed Oakland two years ago, see "Oakland On the Brink... of a Creative Explosion." 2009 opened with the notorious, cell phone-filmed, murder of Oscar Grant by a BART policeman and, three months later, four cops were killed in one day by a fleeing felon. Still, the murder rate was already dropping from its horrific high of 145, in 2006, to 94, in 2010, with petty crime less than might be expected during such a punishing recession.
The St. Columba Church, on Alcatraz, commemorates the people murdered Oakland every year with white crosses; shown here the 94 for 2010. photo: Oakland North Webzine
The Obama Bounce? Better policing under African American chief Anthony Batts? Rich folks coming down from the hills to volunteer? Certainly, increased arts and self-expression contributes to self-esteem, civic pride, employment in the arts AND cold cash, like the near million Kaufman's "Hemingway" dropped here. A lively downtown—Oakland's used to be dead-as-a-door nail—makes the city much more attractive to the loft buyers finally fulfilling ex-Mayor, now Governor, Jerry Brown's "Build 10,000 Lofts" plan. Despite the downside of gentrification, it would be unwise to inhibit the added value of rampant creativity.
Take director/producer Carmen Madden. Using her family homes as collateral, she leapt from teaching acting and writing at Ohlone Community College to writing, directing and producing "Everyday Black Man" (2008). A very pro looking and feeling film, shot on the RED with the great up-and-coming actors Ahku, Henry Brown and Ed Gilles, "EBM" also has a moving story, inspired by the 2007 killing of Chauncey Bailey, the Oakland Tribune reporter (his killer's trail is only now concluding). In Madden's script, a couple of charismatic Black Muslims put the muscle on her hero to turn his corner store into a crack dealership.
"I deal with tough black issues," Madden told CineSource. "I'm not really sure why—I think it is just because I have a family. 'Shadow Fight,' about a father and son, just came to me." For added metaphorical punch, she set it in the boxing community, which Madden has joined, first for research and now to work out (King's Boxing). Principal photography starts May 23rd with the lead played by Blair Underwood, a highly regarded television actor, who starred on "The Cosby Show," did multiple seasons of "Sex and the City" and seven years of "L.A. Law."
Blair Underwood, the well-known television actor, will star in Carmen Madden's new film, "Shadow Fight.' illo courtesy: CLM Productions
“This time the distributer, Entertainment One (to whom she sold "EBM"), is doing most of the financing, and they wanted a well known lead," said Madden who runs CLM Productions. "Much of the rest of the cast are also from LA," a common choice for Bay Area indies, due to immensity of talent available there. "I found them through Aisha Colly, who has been a casting agent for a long time and has a familiarity with black actors."
Considering "EBM" had a shooting schedule of 15 days and a budget of around $200,000, and "Shadow Fight" has 19 days and over twice that, what will Madden do with the extra resources? "I do believe in rehearsals. We would love to have three. There was no rehearsal for 'EBM.' We did a read through but that was it, except for the fight scene. It is hard to fit in rehearsals on a low budget when you're paying SAG rates. I've been preparing for this shoot for a long time but we are still rushing around, coming down to the wire. Because I am not fully in control of the money, you have more tensions, more negotiations, more actors to negotiate with. It is stressful but a good stress."
What does Ms. Madden think of cine Oakland: "I talked to Ami (Zins) about a week ago and she was positive, despite what is happening at the Film Office. It offers so much, things I didn’t take advantage of last time. Actually, I don’t have many filmmaker friends. But I am hoping to have a monthly social, perhaps starting at the end of June, when the new house is ready." Madden recently moved her production company, CLM, from downtown to a house on Pine Street, in west West Oakland.
Madden on set, directing Omari Hardwick as a drug dealer posing as a Black Muslim. photo: CLM Productions
Lisbon Okafor, originally from Nigeria but here for almost two decades, is so smitten with the alchemy of Oakland, he named his second feature "Oakville." It was supposed to be about two biracial couples "but that became a little trite," Okafor told CineSource. "So it became one black and one white couple with a glimmer of an affair which doesn't happen."
"My producer Cheryl (LaTouche) and I came up with the idea in reaction to the Obama victory in 2008. We devised a seven scene structure and I wrote the opening scene introducing the two couples. Then we cast the roles and asked the actors to work on the scenes with each other. They created six scenes and we built the story around these seven pillars."
"Oakville" stars all locals, although some have since moved to LA. In it, Shannon Shepherd plays the wife of recently laid off executive, Jeff Handy, who had focused all his energy on the Obama campaign and is suddenly adrift, their black friend, Kay Ewing Donato, with whom he worked on the campaign and is now smitten, and her husband, Benedict Ives.
"Oakville" was small crewed: just cinematographer Todd Tankersley, who did a great job with lots of movement and foreground pieces, sound person Darcel Walker, and Okafor, who gripped as well directed. He also gives a shout out to his composer, Ken Cuneo, and sound designer, Jim LeBrecht of Berkeley Sound Artists.
Cinematographer Todd Tankersley shoots a scene from Okafor's 'Oakville,' about two couples, one black, the other white, on Lake Merritt. photo: L. Okafor
"After much deliberation, we decided to shoot on the Canon 5D, which has superb picture quality," and is fast becoming the Oakland camera of choice, due to its rich colors, shallow depth-of-field look and even lower price. "But, I would have shot on a consumer camera if I had to," Okafor said.
"I got a lot of support from the community and businesses donated a lot. Of course, Ami (Zins) and Janet (Austin, her associate,) were critical because I wanted to shoot in a one mile radius of Lake Merit," much like Frazer Bradshaw's award-winning "Everything Strange and New" (2009), which was shot entirely in a square mile of North Oakland.
Okafor is financing "Oakville" on credit cards but he is hardly a wild and crazy DIYer. A respected director of dozens of commercials for Nippon, Guess, Verizon and Macy's, among others, he also produced a previous feature "Jujuluv," about two sisters-in-law dealing with the death of the man they both love. A member of the Director's Guild, Okafor intends to screen "Oakville" for the DGA here and in LA, where he will harvest distribution contacts. "I will sell this film," he states categorically.
If it turns out as good as the rushes looks, he undoubtedly will. Of the top fifty films in the US today, only two are by African Americans: "Jumping the Broom" and "Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family." "Songs you listen to hundreds of times but movies you see only once, unless they are really good," explained Kevin Brown, of Likewise Media, an East Bay DVD manufacturer, to CineSource. "That means you need a new movie every night and black people are no different. One of these days, the distro guys are going to get that."
A music video production at KTOP's fully equipped and reasonably priced soundstage, director Shaka Jamal Redmond in command. photo: D. Blair
If so, viola: the Oakland industry that filmmaker Mateen Kemet editorializes for, that Youth Radio is training for, and that Carmen Madden is throwing her hat into the ring for. Yes, it would depend on a union of four very different groups—monied investors, proficient professionals, visionary artists and edgy storytellers—but if any place can balance those extremes, it is Oakland.
The town is also home to dozens of documentarians. "Our Holocaust Vacation," about a family's journey through Poland and that difficult history, by CineSource publisher Doniphan Blair and brother Nicholas Blair, showed 100 times on various PBS stations across the country this spring. Meanwhile, George Csiscery the hardest working docmaker in Oakland, finished three films this year already.
"Two of them were commissioned by the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. The third, 'Songs Along a Stony Road,' is a feature about Transylvanian folk musicians I've been working on since 1999," he told CineSource. "We had the world premiere in April at the Chicago International Music and Movies Festival.".
"I love working in Oakland because my post-production team is mostly East Bay-based—one of them lives just a few blocks away and comes to work on her bike. I might be the only production company that provides a daily swim excursion to Temescal Pool at lunchtime. It encourages a relaxed work scene."
Another diligent doc maker is Ashley James, the director of KTOP, Oakland's city television channel. He was recently in Cuba shooting “From Ghost Town to Havana” for Eugene Corr, who grew up in Richmond and Oakland before moving to LA. It deals with an Oakland boys’ softball team which goes to Cuba to play but connects with the boys on a team there. Largely funded by Bay Area organizations, it would be hard hit if the Oakland Film Office closes. “Optimism would not be a word that I would use,” says James. Ironically, "Things at the film office looks pretty good in terms of their interaction with the industry," he said. "And the private sector is rebounding faster than the public.”
Oakland soundperson Darcel Walker developed an arts television channel in his studio but in tanked in the Great Recession. photo: D. Blair
Darcel Walker, a well-known sound-person specializing in indie features (he did "Oakville") sees growth: "A lot of people are finding a way to finance their features and shorts. You can tell the more organic films. When people have scraped their pennies together, the passion level is a lot higher.”
Walker should know: he largely built a studio for an arts channel which “almost happened but the economy crashed.” Recently, he sent out a script for a black sci-fi series, "The Starlight Source," attracted some talent and is talking to investors. Although quiet about the details, he’s clear about the community potential: from live action to CGI, he hopes to shoot it entirely in Oakland.
Indie and doc makers will find a way but, if the Film Office closes, it will be disastrous for commercial film. Projects dried up in San Jose when their commission closed. Producers have to schlep around to various city agencies for permits. Services become harder to find and coordinate. At the Oakland City Council meeting on May 5th, Mayor Jean Quan presented a proposal to cut a lot of the arts, including the Film Office, but discussion was tabled and there's no time frame for a final decision.
After the Wayans Brothers were blocked from starting a studio on the old Oakland army base, because the port's trucks had to keep rolling, CineSource suggested an ambitious plan for the old navy base on Alameda Island's barren west end. illo: D. Blair
If Oakland is really is the poster child for miscegenation—not only of the races but of the classes, environments, media and styles—it personifies the modern mixed and conflicted society. Someone needs to tell those stories simply to heal those civic psychologies and fill those market needs .
Cine Oakland will keep expanding, one way or another. Ever since the Black Panthers made their dramatic debut on the world stage, residents have been waiting for the next cutting edge identity. While there's been hyphy music, turf dancing, Burning Man arts, big metal sculptures, and famous fine artists, since Nathan Oliveira and the 60s figurative movement, a cadre of advanced filmmakers, who could put it all together and turn the dramatic story of Oakland into well-crafted narratives or documentaries, would be just the ticket.
Doniphan Blair is a writer, filmmaker, designer and painter living in West Oakland; Lorenzo Estébanez is a filmmaker, writer and Tikkun Magazine associate living in Berkeley. Posted on May 13, 2011 - 12:16 PM