It was probably only a matter of time before someone made a movie about First Fridays — the monthly event is, after all, a deeply cinematic affair, a fairly perfect encapsulation all of Oakland’s contradictions (plus, lots of attractive people always helps!) — but local filmmakers N’Jeri Eaton and Mario Furloni are officially the first, and what they’re working in looks pretty rad:
FIRST FRIDAY Teaser from FIRST FRIDAY Film on Vimeo.
“We tried to make the film for a couple of reasons,” Eaton said in a recent interview. “After the murder of Kiante Campbell [in February], there was so much energy and so many conversations about First Friday and what it means for the city.” Even as Oakland was garnering well-deserved attention for its arts scene, the city’s violent side showed itself in a profoundly public way. “Oakland has some contradictions, and [First Fridays] is when those two things collide,” Eaton continued. “we wanted to capture that.”
