ABOUT THE FILM
THE APOLOGY, a feature-length documentary by Mimi Chakarova, investigates an incident in the 1960s in which Alameda County and the City of Hayward dismantled the entire community of Russell City, pushing 1,400 residents out of their homes and off their land – all to claim the 200 acres for an industrial park.
Most of the residents ended up in Russell City in the first place because Black and Latino families could not purchase homes or land elsewhere. For them, the unincorporated area, located south of Oakland and across the bay from San Francisco, was a beloved village – with 13 businesses, seven churches and 205 families. All of this was lost in 1963.
Sixty years later, THE APOLOGY features the stories of more than twenty Russell City residents and their descendants. Using archival footage, animated photos and illustrations, the film explores the historical significance of an apology. What does it mean to make amends for a past that is very much present in the memories of the former residents?
THE APOLOGY was selected as one of five recipients of the 2024 Better Angels Lavine Fellowship. Established as a component of the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, the fellowship is designed to provide support for films that tell historically underrepresented stories about our shared past.
Photo courtesy of Priscilla Figueroa, Zenobia Kimble, James Knowles, Gloria Moore,
Sam Nava and the Hayward Area Historical Society Collection.
WATCH THE TRAILER
For the next two years, THE APOLOGY will screen at film festivals throughout North America. We held our first Bay Area community screening on May 6, 2023 to honor and celebrate the surviving Russell City residents, many now in their 80s and 90s. Attended by more than 300 people, including local and state government officials, our first screening influenced an unprecedented resolution in Alameda County’s 170-year-old history:
On June 27, 2023, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors formally apologized for its role in the seizure and destruction of Russell City.
The resolution cites the impact of watching THE APOLOGY in the weeks leading up to their decision.
The resolution cites the impact of watching the documentary…
Screenings
May 6, 2023
The Hayward Veterans’ Memorial Building
Hayward, CA
June 12, 2023
The New Parkway Theater
Oakland, CA
October 17, 2023
The Historic Bal Theater
San Leandro, CA
November 10, 2023
The 32nd Annual St. Louis International Film Festival
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, St. Louis, MO
May 25, 2024
The Harlem International Film Festival
Maysles Documentary Center, New York, NY
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July 13, 2024
Berkeley Public Library / South Branch
The Tarea Hall Pittman Social Justice Series
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RUSSELL CITY RESIDENTS AND DESCENDANTS FEATURED IN THE APOLOGY
LEONARD ANCONA
LITA ANCONA
MONIQUE BERLANGA
BETTY EDDENS
EDITH EDDENS
PRISCILLA FIGUEROA
SEAN GASCIÉ
CAROLYN JOHNSON
JESSIE MAE JOHNSON
MARIAN JOHNSON
ZENOBIA KIMBLE
AISHA KNOWLES
AIYANA KNOWLES
JAMES KNOWLES
GLORIA MOORE
JUANITA NAVA
SAM NAVA
ANDY SERNA
EARLINE THOMAS
TONI WYNN
ALSO FEATURING
ANGELA ANDREWS
HAROLD DAVIS
RONNIE STEWART
VOICE ACTORS
BOBBY L. BATY JR.
JULIAS CANADA
PETE COE
DAVID B. COLE
JIM O’CONNOR
DEBRA ELAINE FOWLER
ZEINE GAMAL
COURTNEY HINTON
WELLINGTON JACKSON
JUDY JUANITA
PAMELA L. KELLY
VINCE MARTIN
MARK RABINE
The first community screening of The Apology took place at the Hayward Veterans’ Memorial Building, in the very same auditorium where 60 years ago the residents pleaded with Alameda County to keep their homes and land.
Our first community screening would not have been possible without the help from BAY EMT volunteers, the Hayward Fire Department and Alfredo Rodriguez at the Veterans’ Memorial Building.
Photos by Joselito Barcena © 2023.
MEET THE TEAM
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Mimi Chakarova grew up in a village in southwest Bulgaria. When Communism collapsed, she and her mother immigrated to the United States. Chakarova picked up her first camera in Baltimore – no one back home believed the harsh reality of poverty in America. By 8th grade, Chakarova was working three jobs that didn’t require English. Four years later, she graduated early from high school and, at 17, moved to San Francisco. She rented a tiny studio in the Tenderloin for $525 a month and enrolled at City College of San Francisco. Without the resources to study filmmaking, she chose documentary photography instead. Chakarova eventually found her way to making films and hasn’t stopped since.
As an independent, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, Mimi Chakarova covered global issues examining conflict, corruption and the sex trade. Her first film The Price of Sex, a feature-length documentary on the trafficking of women, was awarded the Nestor Almendros Award for courage in filmmaking at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York. She was also the winner of the prestigious Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting and a Dart Awards Finalist for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma.
Chakarova went on to direct, shoot and produce six other feature documentaries, completed by her own production company, A Moment in Time Productions. Men: A Love Story premiered at the Telluride Film Festival; Letters, a collaboration with Grammy-winning artist Kris Davis, premiered at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. Chakarova is the founder and creative director of Still I Rise Films, a documentary series about resilience and rising above the odds. In 2021, she set up a fellowship program for women filmmakers and visual artists in need of support and mentorship.
Mimi Chakarova taught visual storytelling at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism for 14 years. She also taught reporting classes at Stanford University's African and African American Studies and Comparative Studies for Race and Ethnicity and has lectured extensively in universities throughout the world.
Mimi Chakarova received her BFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute and her MA in Visual Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.
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A long-time supporter of Still I Rise Films, Wellington Jackson worked as a firefighter and paramedic for 26 years with the Alameda County Fire Department. Born in San Francisco, California, Wellington saw first-hand how neighborhoods are impacted by poverty and violence. Twenty years ago, he established Bay Area Youth EMT, a nonprofit in Oakland that trains young men and women of color to become civic-minded first responders. Wellington Jackson continues to teach, mentor and volunteer, even agreeing to be behind the second camera on many of the shoots for The Apology. Bay Area Youth EMT and Still I Rise Films partner in producing documentaries that have deep impact locally and beyond.
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Gloria Bratton-Sanders-Moore, born in Texarkana, Arkansas in 1943, was instrumental in the research and production of The Apology. At the age of three, Gloria and her brother Charles moved with their parents to Russell City where the children spent their formative years. Gloria attended Russell School, Hayward High, and Oakland City College.
At the age of 21, Gloria married and moved to Los Angeles, where she attended the University of Southern California and Loyola Law School before embarking upon a career in workforce development. She worked for the City of Los Angeles for over 37 years across a range of positions in the Mayor’s Office, the Economic and Workforce Development Department, and the Housing Authority. After retiring from the City, she was the CEO of a nonprofit organization where she oversaw job training and placement programs serving low-income individuals, primarily people of color. Gloria brings over 45 years of experience working to advance economic equity.
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Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist Gavin Templeton is a highly acclaimed solo artist, composer, and performer known for his cinematic and motivic style. His music has been praised for its "assured yet adventurous voice" (Josef Woodward, DownBeat). As a composer, Gavin scores for documentaries, narratives, and animated films, which has garnered him recognition and accolades at esteemed festivals such as HotDocs, the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, Sedona International Film Festival, and Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival.
Gavin is a sought-after concert and recording artist who has worked with a diverse lineup of musicians ranging from Grammy-winning big band leader John Daversa to avant-garde jazz legend Vinny Golia. He has collaborated with renowned guitarist Nels Cline, listed among Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists, and has participated in the premieres of numerous classical and chamber works, including the US premiere of Gavin Bryars' opera Marilyn Forever. He has also performed as a featured soloist and collaborating artist at prestigious music festivals, such as the Monterey Jazz Festival, Angel City Jazz Festival, and the Ballard Jazz Festival. In addition, he is a busy session musician whose contributions can be heard on numerous film and television soundtracks, including works by John Williams, Brian Reitzell, and Jeff Russo.
Gavin also teaches and mentors young musicians. He is an adjunct faculty at Pasadena City College, as well as gives private instruction from his Los Angeles home studio. He has composed for Still I Rise Films since 2019. The Apology is his first feature-length documentary score.
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Lydia Chávez is an emerita professor who taught at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism for 29 years. She started as a reporter for the Albuquerque Tribune, later moving on to Time magazine, Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, where she served as El Salvador and South American bureau chief. In 2005, Chávez and her students collaborated to publish Capitalism, God and A Good Cigar: Cuba Enters the Twenty-First Century (Duke University Press). And in 1998, Chávez published The Color Bind: California’s Battle Against Affirmative Action, which won the Leonard Silk Award (UC Press).
Lydia Chávez holds a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature from the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, a Graduate Diploma in Art History and a master’s degree in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She is the founder and executive editor of Mission Local, an award-winning news site that covers the Mission District in San Francisco. Mission Local and Still I Rise Films have partnered on documentary productions since 2016.
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Aisha Knowles grew up with questions about Russell City. She and her sisters would regularly attend the Russell City reunions at Kennedy Park. Their grandmother, Fannie, and dad, James Knowles, told the girls to sit still on the picnic blanket and to behave. Aisha had plenty of time to observe. She watched her dad as he embraced his childhood friends, memories of a place no more washing over the picnic area.
Aisha wanted to be an investigative journalist when she grew up. It’s to no surprise that The Apology was her inception. She and her sister Aiyana convinced their dad to go on camera to tell his story. He was the first. Soon, others followed suit.
In addition to producing this documentary, Aisha works full time as the Public Affairs Manager at the Fremont Fire Department. She devoted 15 years of service to the Alameda County Fire Department and was the first woman to hold the position of Public Information and Community Relations Officer. Aisha has served three terms as Board President of the Alameda County Board of Education. In 2015, Aisha became the first black President of the Rotary Club of San Leandro. She's currently serving a second term as President and remains the only Black person to hold the role over the course of the Club’s 96-year history. She is a Bay Area Youth Agency Consortium Americorps alumni, completing the 49ers Academy in East Palo Alto.
Aisha Knowles studied Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and participated in Rotary International service projects in Guatemala and Honduras.
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Lola Noguer was born and raised in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. She received her teaching degree in Visual Arts from the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes Regina Pacis. Lola started drawing at a very early age – everything from paper dolls and mermaids to friends and characters inspired by the books she read. She still has the photo album that her grandmother gave her to house her collection of paper dolls. Over time, drawing has become a way to tell the stories of the people Lola met or admired in order to make their stories visible to others. Based in Argentina, Lola has been a grant recipient of Still I Rise Films since 2018. To attend the premiere of The Apology, Lola will make her first trip to the United States this upcoming year.
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Still I Rise Films is a series of documentary films directed and produced by women about ordinary people who, against all odds, continue to strive for dignity and justice. Elevating triumph over tragedy, the filmmakers at Still I Rise Films put together deeply reported, innovative documentaries that challenge perceptions and inspire discussions.