Every year, the Organization of Black Students (OBS) at the University of Chicago invites a guest speaker to deliver the “Kent Lecture” to the University population. The speaker is generally involved, in some measure, with promoting black culture in the United States and speaking about their work regarding black issues. Last year, the OBS announced Ryan Coogler as the guest speaker.
Coogler is a young director and screenwriter in the film industry who has written and directed two hugely successful feature films in Fruitvale Station (2013) and Creed (2015); he has also been responsible for a handful of underrepresented short films including a film titled Locks (2009). Coogler writes about real day-to-day issues primarily in the lives of young black men.
By transforming contemporary American issues into major film productions (non-fictional and fictional), Coogler is addressing societal issues he is familiar with. In Fruitvale Station, Coogler captures 22 year old Oscar Grant’s final hours as well as some of Grant’s most defining moments leading up to his last day, and the horrific circumstances that led to his death. The film is about the everyday struggles of a young black man trying to build a family and a life worth living for.
If you haven’t seen any of Coogler’s work yet, I recommend doing so, with an open mind and, perhaps, box of tissues. Coogler’s writing is powerful and he handles difficult political and social issues that translate well in his films. Coogler uses film to inspire critical thought and different angles of thinking about hot issues. Coogler has many years ahead to perfect his art, but at 29 years old, he is already effectively addressing timely and powerful issues in the United States in a thoughtful and engaging way.