A New, Year-Long Black Film Series Just Launched in Oakland

Early short films by Barry Jenkins and Ryan Coogler will screen in Oakland in September as part of Black Film: Unscreened & Unstreamed, a year-long series organized by the Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice. The series is co-curated by Cheryl Fabio, Rae Shaw and Cornelius Moore and presents screenings on Thursdays through the end of 2025 at Oakstop's first-floor gallery, each accompanied by hosted discussion and analysis. The 2025 lineup includes documentaries such as Daughters and Uzikee, plus a December screening of Fantastic Negrito: Have Your Lost Your Mind Yet?. Programming emphasizes Oakland-specific filmmakers and Black community-focused selection, and workshops and hands-on sessions will support new Bay Area filmmakers.

Early short films by Barry Jenkins and Ryan Coogler will be screening in Oakland in September, thanks to a new, year-long film series presented by the Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice. Black Film: Unscreened & Unstreamed is co-curated by Oakland filmmakers Cheryl Fabio and Rae Shaw, along with Cornelius Moore, the co-director of California Newsreel. Screenings through the end of 2025 will take place on Thursdays in the first floor gallery of Oakstop,

Full-length features on the 2025 schedule include documentaries like the much-lauded Daughters, about father-daughter relationships under the constraints of incarceration, and Uzikee, a profile of Washington, D.C. sculptor Uzikee Nelson. (The latter was directed by Nelson's nephew Doug Harris, who is from Berkeley.) A December event dedicated to Oakland's musical legacy will screen Fantastic Negrito: Have Your Lost Your Mind Yet?, a documentary about the Grammy-winning blues visionary.

In addition to the upcoming movie screenings, workshops will be held to encourage and inspire new Bay Area filmmakers. Rae Shaw is hosting a screenwriting workshop on Aug. 28; on Sept. 25, Sareeta Young and CB Smith-Dahl will be hitting Lake Merritt to teach participants the best ways to make movies on their cell phones. Black Film: Unscreened & Unstreamed kicked off Aug. 14 with screenings of two of Nijla Mu'min's films, broadcasting the series' focus on Black culture and local filmmaking.

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