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Alice Street

Starting at $89

A Film by Spencer Wilkinson

70 minutes

Scene Selection • Closed Captioned

Grades 9 - Adult

Item #:ACS-1195

DVD

K-12 Classrooms, Public Libraries: DVD - $89

K-12 Classrooms, Public Libraries: DVD + Digital File - $139

Colleges, Institutions & Community Screenings: DVD - $295

Colleges: DVD with Digital Site License - $395

K-12 School District pricing available. Please inquire at [email protected]

In a rapidly gentrifying city, the construction of a luxury condominium threatens a local mural, forcing the artists and neighborhood to rally to protect its history, voice, and land.

Two artists — Chilean studio painter Pancho Peskador and Chicago-born aerosol artist Desi Mundo — form an unlikely partnership to paint their most ambitious mural to date in downtown Oakland. The four-story mural is situated at a unique intersection of Chinese and Afro-Diasporic communities who face the imminent threat of displacement and gentrification. But even before painting can commence, the artists face numerous obstacles such as complex negotiations with profit minded property owners, satisfying a community of diverse residents, and resolving the artists' own aesthetic conflicts.

As the mural takes shape, Oakland's unique cultural legacies come to life through historical flashbacks and despite additional setbacks during its creation, Peskador and Mundo complete it with great fanfare and a vibrant celebration.

But three months after the mural's completion, a new luxury condominium development is planned that will obstruct this new source of neighborhood pride. Despite local opposition, the development receives city approval, and the community fights back. Ultimately displaced, the mural becomes a spark for the community to rally to protect cultural arts, and coalesces the community's resistance to gentrification.

DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR EDUCATORS

FILMMAKER'S STATEMENT: "In 2014, I was living on Alice Street in downtown Oakland, CA when I learned two artists were interested in painting a mural just down the street. At most, it was intended to be a short film incorporating community voices and the painting of the mural. This project unlocked a treasure trove of living history that I never knew existed in my neighborhood. The story of Oakland lay inside the intersection where the mural would be painted, and my interviews would shape the content of the piece that I was documenting.

When the story turned and became a fight to save the mural, I recognized there was a larger story to impart. I had to broaden the focus beyond the two muralists and their artwork to share the community's struggle to exist within a city that they had helped build but which had no motivation to retain them. A movement was forming amidst the residents I had been documenting and the central battleground between development and displacement was my neighborhood.

Ultimately the response from Oakland's artist community became a model for engaging cultural artists in the fight against displacement. Gentrification and displacement are taking place throughout the country. The lessons from this story changed my outlook on the power of the arts in community development. I want to share what I've witnessed with other communities, hear their stories and continue to collaboratively create models for development that centers the voice of local artists."

— Spencer Wilkinson

Preview link available upon request. Contact [email protected] for more information

Reviews and Festivals

"Highlights drawbacks of urban gentrification, and preserves — at least via cinema — a hidden history of Oakland's local heroes in arts/culture...As much about urban planning as it is the arts and social justice, and should appeal to specialized collections, though California territories are a particularly recommended venue."

— Video Librarian

"To be screening Alice Street could not be more timely and relevant for our Bay Area community. This documentary speaks perfectly to one of the major goals of our festival, which is to raise awareness about the most pressing issues in our community through art and storytelling."

— Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi, Founder, Fist Up Festival

"Highly Recommended. The director skillfully weaves together the sense of community pride that was created as the mural came to life downtown...Timely and important, illustrating the power of people who are united in action for a common cause...Both uplifting and empowering. Educators facilitating discussions on the effects of gentrification and displacement will find this film especially useful. Showcasing the power of community activism, the documentary is also a wonderful example of how art and cultural centers can become uniting forces within a community inspiring both cooperation and collaboration."

— Educational Media Reviews Online

"Bursting with a rich sense of local history and artistic expression, Alice Street is crafted with great pride for the city of Oakland by Bay Area filmmaker Spencer Wilkinson...With testimony from a diverse group of artists and performers, Wilkinson passionately examines the many ways in which gentrification silences neighborhoods and breeds inequality across the system. As we hear from those who are not included in the city's vision of development and change, Alice Street reveals Oakland as a microcosm of what is happening across the American landscape, disproportionately affecting the sustainability of communities of color. While showing the power of art to unite communities, the film makes a plea for preserving our cities and their many voices within, and warns of the forces that aim to overrun them."

— Mill Valley Film Festival

"This documentary shows how art can work as a tool for grassroots activism and underscores the power of coalition-building to disrupt the displacing forces of privilege."

— MKE Film Festival

"Set in just a few city blocks, it's a story about intractable loss as well as collective refusal, depicting artists' role in grassroots activism that builds power by bridging communities...The documentary also captures a heartening generational shift."

— KQED Arts

"Excellent new documentary Alice Street, which shows Oakland at its multicultural, peaceful, protesting best...In Alice Street, Director Wilkinson shows us that if people take the time to connect, respect — and really listen to each other, genuine progress can be made that respects what has come before. What started with a mural actually led to a movement — of creative, and cultural resilience."

— C. J. Hirschfield, Former Executive Director of Children's Fairyland

"Tells the story of the mural, the people it represents, and the community efforts borne of its removal from public view...What was once meant to be a feel-good story about a unique piece of public art came to speak to the power of art amidst cultural adversity...The film shows how a coalition of artist-led organization in their effort to shift citywide policy to include the voices of artists and community organizations in city conversations about development and the future of Oakland."

— LA Progressive

"Alice Street excels because of its focus on communities of color, giving them the space to build the film's narrative. It's a snappy documentary, easily going through the mural's birth and demise in only about an hour. Still, it makes a bold statement about the city's problems, one that goes far beyond the borders of just the Bay Area. The realities of people of color are merely blips in the bureaucratic process. Art has become power, according to Alice Street's residents. But as the film deftly explains, it's just not a concept that sells well."

— DailyCal

"Eye opening...Filming the creation of the murals in time lapse brings a real sense of investment and appreciation to the process, so when they're threatened, the viewer feels a personal investment too. It's a smart direction by Spencer Wilkinson who brings a vibrancy and energy to the whole film...A well made, vibrant, and expressive tale of fighting to preserve and celebrate the history of an area with art serving as a rallying point. If nothing else, it leads to larger conversations in a way that's not strident or a harangue. We need more documentaries like this."

— Where the Long Tail Ends

WINNER

Oakland International Film Festival, Audience Choice Award for Feature Documentary

Mindfield Film Festival, Best Documentary

OFFICIAL SELECTION

Mill Valley Film Festival

Urbanworld Film Festival

Newport Beach Film Festival

Thin Line Fest

San Luis Obispo International Film Festival

DocUtah

Marda Loop Justice Film Festival