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The Revolutionary Optimists: East Bay team makes amazing, inspiring film about youth in Kolkata, India
Article by C.J. Hirschfield.
Last updated at Tue, 16 Apr at 3:12pm.

Five years ago, Salim Shekh was 10 years old and facing almost insurmountable odds in Kolkata, one of India’s most notorious squatter colonies.

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Oakulture: My Art, My Culture deconstructs gender in hip-hop, SXSW report-back, ESAA showcases musicians, poets
Article by Eric K Arnold.
Last updated at Thu, 28 Mar at 12:23pm.

There are far too few honest discussions about women in hip-hop. And even fewer are those which come from a multigenerational perspective. “My Art, My Culture,” the first installment in a new Betti Ono Gallery series called “Women, Media & Hip Hop,” was such a discussion.

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Our East Bay goes to the Oscars (Community Voices)
Article by C.J. Hirschfield.
Last updated at Tue, 19 Mar at 2:13pm.

As a native Angeleno and a serious film buff, I’ve always dreamed of attending the Academy Awards ceremony. It hasn’t happened yet.

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Newest Oakland film, Licks, to premiere at SXSW
Article by Susan Mernit.
Last updated at Wed, 6 Mar at 8:55am.

By CB Smith-Dahl


Writer/Director Jonathan Singer-Vine started writing movie scripts back in sixth grade, but he's only just now finished his first feature film, "Licks."

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'The Black Fatherhood Project' documentary debuts at Grand Lake Theater - Thursday, Jan. 31
Blog entry by Jeannine Etter.
Last updated at Sun, 3 Feb at 9:44am.

In an effort to counter the negative stereotypes that African-American men experience and are subjected to on a daily basis - being criminal, irresponsible and deadbeat fathers, to name a few - filmmaker Jordan Thierry set out on a mission of research and documentation.

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Oakulture: 'Fruitvale,' Coogler wow Sundance; Bay Area hip-hop alive and well and more
Article by Eric K Arnold.
Last updated at Wed, 30 Jan at 9:45am.

“Fruitvale,” the debut film by Oakland director Ryan Coogler, has emerged as the 2013 Sundance Film Festival’s most buzzworthy entry. The film, a fictional account of the events leading up to the shooting death of Oscar Grant at the hands of a BART police officer at the Fruitvale station on New Years Day 2009, stars Michael B.

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Oakulture: Alpha Omega, Bobby Seale, Shabazz Palaces, The Voice, 45 Sessions, Sanchez and “Soul Food Junkies”
Article by Eric K Arnold.
Last updated at Wed, 30 Jan at 9:43am.

Oakland’s art scene is bubbling right now. The city was just named among the Top 12 nationally by ArtPlaces, which specifically noted the Downtown/Uptown area as being particularly artcentric. That’s cool, but what makes Oakland art hot is Oakland artists. It couldn’t happen without them.

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Fruitvale, film about Oscar Grant, wins top prizes at Sundance
Article by Susan Mernit.
Last updated at Tue, 29 Jan at 8:53am.

Everyone probably knows by now that Fruitvale, the first movie by born and bred Oaklander Ryan Coogler, won two major prizes for a new film at Sundance, beating out all the other films.

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