Yesterday, the San Francisco Chronicle posted this article about a Kickstarted film project created by San Francisco natives Joe Talbot and Jimmie Fail called "The Last Black Man in San Francisco." According to the Chronicle, the pair grew up together on opposite sides of Precita Park, making amateur films of their daily doings and decided that they wanted "to tell the story of race, gentrification and the growing financial inequities in their city."
Kickstarter video:
The film will tell the story of the loss of the home that Fail's grandfather owned on Fillmore Street and Fail's family's attempts to get possession of the house back. Talbot states, “There is the question in the film — do you stay and fight for the city you love or do you accept those changes as inevitable and move on?”
Trailer:
The topic and message of the film really reminded me of the documentary we watched in class: "Straight Outta Hunter's Point," in that both films are a commentary on the way that wealthy individuals buy homes in urban neighborhoods, which makes property values skyrocket, forcing low income (and often minority) populations out of their neighborhoods.
The film also reminded me of Map 9 in Rebecca Solnit's Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, where she discusses the way that old businesses on Fillmore Street have continuously been closed down since the sixties.
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