THE RICHMOND FILM COLLECTIVE
In the last few years there has been a dramatic rise
in the number of films written, directed, and filmed
in the East Bay. Not only indie films, but blockbuster
films such as Black Panther, which was written and
directed by Oakland-born Ryan Coogler, featured
scenes shot in Oakland. At $1.3 billion worldwide, it’s
one of the highest-grossing films of all time. Before
“Black Panther”, Coogler wrote and directed another
East Bay story, “Fruitvale Station”, which was about
the Oscar Grant shooting. Another local favorite,
Daveed Diggs wrote and starred in “Blindspotting”, a
story about gentrification, race relations, gun violence
and class, and features Oakland as another character in
the story. Richmond native Justin Tipping wrote and
directed, “Kicks”, a movie shot mostly in Oakland. Add
to this writer-director Boots Riley’s, “Sorry to Bother
You”, also featuring Oakland, and you can see a trend
developing in more authentic stories from the East
Bay being told by local people of color. The motion
picture industry, long criticized for its lack of diversity,
highlighted by the #OscarsSoWhite hash tag and the
18 MARKETPLACECONTRACOSTA.COM JULY 2019
controversy surrounding its lack of people of color in
film, behind and in front of the camera, seems to be
moving in the right direction. This might make one
feel more optimistic.
Unfortunately, the film industry has another, less
noticed but even more severe lack of diversity. Last year
for the 86th time in the Academy’s 91-year history
of awarding Oscars, the membership nominated an
exclusively male slate for Best Director. Only once has
a woman, Kathryn Bigelow, won Best Director. None
of the previously mentioned films above were written
or directed by women. One realizes there is a larger
battle still being fought to open access to more female
voices in film.
On the front lines of this battle is our own
Richmond Film Collective. Founders B.K. Williams
and Erica Milsom formed the collective to provide a
space for local filmmakers to support each other and
make their voices heard.
What is the film collective? Erica explains, “a group
Michaelle McGaraghan, Veronica Moscoso,
Christiane Gude, Ilena Ferrer, Founders
B.K. Williams and Erica Milsom.
By Shelly Prevost