Fruitvale Station (2013) is a movie that chronicles the last 24 hours of life of Oscar Grant, a local young black man who was killed when BART police officer Johannes Mehserle shot him with a gun rather than the taser he claimed to have meant to use (more on that story in the Oscar Grant article). The film was written and directed by Oakland native filmmaker Ryan Coogler as a tribute to the life and family of Oscar. It had its international premier at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival as an entry for the U.S. Dramatic Competition. The film immediately stood out as one of the highlights of the entire festival. Go Oakland!
"I found out what that day was like, and I realized that day was extremely ironic...What he did that day, that it was his mom's birthday, and it was New Year's Eve — that it was a day that people think about how they're gonna be better...There was a portion of Oscar's time that he spent by himself during that day — nobody can say what he did or didn't do for sure...Some things about what he did on that day his mom didn't know, but his girl did: that he lost his job, that he was struggling with trying to go straight."
--Ryan Coogler, quoted from a Buzzfeed article
The Weinstein Company picked up distribution rights after the film won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival this year.
movie poster at Fruitvale BART
photo from Our Oakland
A private screening of the movie was held on Thursday, June 20th at the Grand Lake Theater for invited guests.
In 2014, Fruitvale Station won Best Independent Film at NAACP Image Awards 2014.
Monday May 13 2013, this trailer was released
