january coda (moyah pravda newsreel)
(2012 / super 8mm / 5 mins / silent)
January 28, 2012
Oakland, California
a super 8mm newsreel of “move-in day”, involving efforts of autonomous groups as they attempted to occupy the abandoned premises of kaiser auditorium in downtown oakland, which they intended to convert into a multivalent social center and base of operations. this day which came to be known for the police repression which followed, lives in some people’s memory as J28 and includes a confrontation with some of the more militant contingent of the autonomous groups and the riot police, which came to be known among some as “the battle of oak street”. the reel ends with footage of one of many satellites of the occupy oakland encampment known as “aquapy”, a houseboat built from scrap wood material, floating in the middle of lake merrit.the reel begins with roxanne dunbar-ortiz addressing a crowd at oscar grant plaza.
