The 21st Oakland International Film Festival

September 14th – 23rd, 2023

Announces opening night films at The Historic Grand Lake Theater.

Both opening documentary films raise awareness about land ownership, and obstacles faced to keep it, produce from it and pass it to future generations for the African-American community.

Directed by Dr. Gail Myers,“Rhythms of The Land”, screens at 5:30 p.m. at the Grand Lake Theater.
Dr. Gail Myers is also founder of Farms To Grow, a non-profit organization that amongst other things, sells produce in Oakland, Ca, grown by African -American Farmers. Learn more at: http://farmstogrow.com

After, Rhythms of The Land”, Michael Warren Wilson’s “We Have Just Begun”, will also screen at The Historical Grand Lake Theater.

September 14th, 2023

5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Rhythms of the Land is a valentine to generations of Black farmers in the United States from the enslavement period to the present, whose intense love of the land and dedication to community enabled them to survive against overwhelming odds. They struggled from the beginning without support or recognition, and have been written out of the dominant narratives of US agriculture.

In 1920, there were over 920,000 Black families farming in the United States, although the majority were sharecroppers and tenant farmers. Today there are just over 48,697, a 95% decrease in 100 years. Black farming families have lost their land and their stories are quickly disappearing and should be preserved so that we may understand the history and nature of lives on the farms.

The goal of this documentary is to preserve their stories and honor their lives and agrarian legacies.

note: “Rhythms of The Land” will screen at 5:30 p.m., followed by “We have Just begun.“.

In 1919, black workers’ decades-long efforts to challenge exploitation in the Arkansas Delta culminated in the nation’s deadliest racial massacre and labor battle. It’s legacy is deep, despite being hidden for over 100 years.

“We Have Just Begun” takes its name from the secret pass-code used by a Black union of farmers and domestic workers organizing throughout the Arkansas Delta in 1919. A seven-year investigation into the historical events in Phillips County, Arkansas, the film explores the legacy of exploitation, domination, and resistance in the Delta and its ongoing cover up.

Two films: “Rhythms of The Land” and “We Have Just Begun”

SEPTEMBER 14TH

9:00 P.M. – 11;30 P.M.

BLACK MOON is a tribute to a people and their cultures. A story that narrates the daily life of its characters. Chronicles that intertwine with each other, and one begins to understand the yearnings and frustrations of beings who try to survive the determinism of a political system that oppressed them for many years; the consequences and scars remain forever.
It is at the same time a journey about the individual, which leads us to question who we are and the need to be better.
When the plot concludes, you mourn the grandfather and hope for a promising future for little Santiago. You long for the protagonists to be saved, you end up admiring their fortitude and you want to go out to fight with them and meet the river; a character of nature that acquires a soul. You end up falling in love with the torrent of water, trying to help it at all costs.

BLACK MOON is a story dedicated to the courage of these inhabitants, who despite living on the margins for so many years, have not lost their dreams!

This makes it a unique film that narrates a universal drama.

The question is: will we survive at the end of it all?