On July 1, the stars of Fruitvale Station, Octavia Spencer and Michael B. Jordan, attended a screening and Q & A session at Chicago’s ICon Theater which was introduced by Reverend Jesse Jackson.
The movie chronicles the events leading up to the tragic death of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Bay Area father who was gunned down by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police on New Year’s Day in 2009. Grant’s death was captured on video by several fellow passengers and the reports sent shockwaves through the country.
Michael B. Jordan recently spoke about the movie and its universal themes. “This story could take place anywhere around the world in any situation whether you’re white, black, hispanic, French, Puerto Rican, Cuban or anything,” he said. “Whatever you want to be, it’s the same situation. One of the things that I was worried about was that people would look at the film and see a majority of black characters and think that this was a “black film” or that this was a story that is only going to effect that community. He does happen to be a resident of the Bay, but it’s about the humanity part. It’s about being human. Being flawed. About making mistakes and being able to right them and correct them. Unfortunately, Oscar didn’t live long enough to fix those mistakes.”
One of our readers, Aaron, was at the Chicago screening and sent us a few photos from inside the theater which you can check out below.
Fruitvale Station opens in select theaters today. To find out more about other advance screenings and movie specials in Chicago or around the country, keep an eye on gofobo.com.
Fruitvale Station opens in New York and L.A. today. If you’d like to see an advanced screening in your city, enter their Facebook Sweepstakes for tickets.
