Oakland Style Week to host its first film festival this weekend, featuring local talent and stories

Films by Oakland-based filmmakers or set in the city will be screened at the New Parkway Theater Sunday as part of Oakland Style Week, an annual festival organized by Visit Oakland. 

The showcase — “Oakland Made” — also will raise funds to support community events and screenings through Cinemama, a Bay Area film nonprofit. 

“Bringing more events, more workshops also puts us in the space where we can pay more creatives to lead more workshops,” said Niema Jordan, an Oakland-based documentary filmmaker and executive director of Cinemama. “Our goal with the series is to find ways to highlight Oakland filmmakers and also show that there’s a history of filmmaking in Oakland and the Bay Area.”

Visit Oakland is sponsoring theater rental fees, while Cinemama curated the screenings. There will be a series of short films followed by a screening of 2018 sci-fi comedy “Sorry to Bother You” by director and Cinemama board member Boots Riley. 

One of the showcased films is a 2015 short “TDK: The Dream Kontinues,” directed by journalist Pendarvis Harshaw. The film, which Harshaw made as a UC Berkeley Journalism graduate student, features a soundtrack by the East Oakland hip-hop crew Hieroglyphics. It also showcases the work of Oakland graffiti artists, spotlighting the TDK crew and one of its founders, Mike “Dream” Francisco, a well-known artist who was murdered in 2000. Oakland recognizes Feb. 17 as Dream Day in his honor. 

“Telling a story about the flatlands of East Oakland and telling a story that goes beyond Oakland was really a part of my process,” Harshaw said. “All of my work is really community oriented, and so making sure that I shed proper light on folks who don’t normally have the camera and the microphone has really been my goal.” 

Oakland-based writer and educator Shia Shabazz Smith’s 2026 short “Dawn” is also in the lineup. Smith described her film as “a love story with a kiss of an Afro-futuristic sci-fi twist.” Costume designer Senay Alkebu-lan incorporated the Black Panther Party logo in his designs throughout the film.  

“Oakland is a place where art, activism, education, all of them are important. There’s something about it that’s hard to articulate,” Smith said. “There is a lived experience that is revered here.”

Though Smith was not born in Oakland, she feels it “claims” her because she has spent more time living here than anywhere else. 

“To be venturing into my art, and — because I am absolutely Oakland made — to be able to celebrate in this way just feels like an honor,” Smith said. 

“Oakland Made”

When: noon on Sunday, Oct 11
Where: New Parkway Theater, 474 24th St.
Tickets: Through Eventbrite
More information: Visit Oakland

“ACROSS,” “Holy Roller” and “This Is Private” are other films screening in the shorts portion of the festival, which runs from noon to 2 p.m. 

This is the first time film will be incorporated into Oakland Style week, an annual festival to celebrate the city’s art, music, culture, fashion and cuisine, now in its fourth year. Events earlier in the week included “Brunch and the Runaway” at Town Fare Café and an “Art of Sneakers” showcase of sneaker culture at SoleSpace Lab.

According to Renee Roberts, Visit Oakland spokesperson, most Oakland Style visitors are not local.

“Oakland really is a very unique and special place, and if people have not been here they do not know that,” said Roberts. “People are very warm and welcoming. The energy is positive, creative.”