Based on real life events Fruitvale Station is the first feature-length film of the San Francisco Bay Area native, filmmaker Ryan Coogler. During the early hours of 2009 New Year’s Day, after being detained for an altercation on the train, Oscar Grant was fatally shot by a member of BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) Police. Filmed in the actual locations where these incidents happened, the story follows the last day of Grant’s life.

This independent drama, produced by Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang, explores the real people behind the headlines, the public debate, the race related polemics, the protests and the riots.

Writer/director, Ryan Coogler, explained that after he learned about the tragic incident he witnessed how rapidly the story took over the media, raising controversy all over the nation. “It became very political, very fast. In that process I saw people ignoring the fact that this guy was a human being and he didn’t make it home to the people who he mattered to. That got completely ignored when all these political things came up.” Coogler felt that the situation became politicized to the point where Oscar Grant’s humanity was lost, and that inspired him to tell his story. “Nobody was talking about the fact that this 22 year old guy lost his life and that his 4 year old daughter is going to spend the rest of her life without her dad,” he added.

To cast this film the director recurred to an experienced ensemble to create multilayered characters that show Oscar Grant’s perspective on a very complex situation. Michael B. Jordan (Red Tails, Chronicle) portrays Oscar. Melonie Díaz (Be Kind Rewind, Nothing Like the Holidays) plays Sophina, Grant’s live-in girlfriend and the mother of his daughter Tatiana played by Ariana Neal.

Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer (The Help) joins the cast as Wanda, Oscar’s mother. She explained that at first she was hesitant about accepting the role. Spencer said that when she saw the videos of the incident, she approached the story with a lot of anger and she felt that the project did not deserve that. After reading the script she changed her mind. “He took such an interesting and positive way to tell the story. We know the outcome. But he could’ve come from a place of anger and chose not to. What he told and what he was able to do is restore some of that humanity that we never got to see with Oscar,” Spencer said.

Fruitvale Station is now playing in NYC, LA, and Bay Area and opens NATIONWIDE July 26!