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BACKLASH

Cedric O'Bannon's film BACKLASH records the testimony of author, engineer, and citizen leader, Mr. Oscar Carl Wright as he approaches his centennial year. O'Bannon offers us not a documentary but a biography. This film illustrates the memory of the elder gentleman's mind with an artistry employing archival footage as Neorealism in service of the absolute truth embedded in the protagonist mind. BACKLASH is the first film in O'Bannon's 'Flash Doc' film series. The subsequent flash Docs follow different episodes of Mr. Wright's journey. The first BACKLASH segment underscores young Oscar's plantation education in the 1920s and 1930s-- midway through the Jim Crow Law era. It was then that Mr. Oscar Wright's lifelong penchant for truth telling emerged, dramatically and dangerously, by the time he was twelve years old--in Coahoma County, Mississippi.

  • Cedric O'Bannon
    Director
    Director: Act of Unity (2021), An Exercise in Empathy (2021)
  • September Williams
    Writer
    Act of Unity (2021), An Exercise in Empathy (2020) , AN ACT OF UNITY (2021), WHEN WE ARE ASKED : ABOUT CROSSING OVER (2016, 2021), DANCE FOR JOY
  • Cedric O'Bannon
    Writer
    An Exercise in Empathy (2021)
  • Cedric O'Bannon
    Producer
    ACT OF UNITY (2021), AN EXERCISE IN EMPATHY (2020)
  • September Williams
    Producer
    ACT OF UNITY (2021), An EXERCISE IN EMPATHY (2021) WHEN WE ARE ASKED (2015), DANCE FOR JOY
  • OSCAR C. WRIGHT
    Key Cast
    "SELF"
  • Cedric O'Bannon
    Cenimatography
    ACT OF UNITY (2021), AN EXERCISE IN EMPATHY (2020)
  • Tesfa Baruch
    CAMERA
  • Jabari Jones
    CAMERA
    CODE SWITCH (2018)
  • Cedric O'Bannon
    Editor
    THE HEART OF AMILCAR CABRAL (2016) ACT OF UNITY (2021), AN EXERCISE IN EMPATHY
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    BACKLASH
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Documentary, Biography, Experimental
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    June 21, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    30,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital Video
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • No public screenings prior to festival submission
Distribution Information
  • Ninth Month Productions/Cedric O'Bannon
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Cedric O'Bannon

Cedric O'Bannon is a Black American freelance video journalist and documentary filmmaker. A member of the National Writers Union/International Federation of Journalists, O'Bannon's work advances humanitarian goals by clarifying the past in support of a better future. BACKLASH is the testimony of a Black American man, Mr. Arthur C. Wright, as he approaches his centennial year. Mr. Wright’s social and educational activism, and propensity to always tell the truth, began dramatically by the time he was twelve years old—in Jim Crow era ravaged Mississippi.

Though born in Mississippi himself, as were his parents before him, O'Bannon was mostly raised near the foothills of the Sierra Mountain Range, ninety miles from Sacramento, California. His father was a university professor and department chair, while his mother a primary school educator. The younger O'Bannon's background and camera shape his unique capacity to give voice to the substrate of resistance to racism and fascism.

Cedric O'Bannon's formal film and journalism education evolved from 1991 to 2000. Its venues included the National Broadcasting School, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, and the Academy of Arts University, San Francisco. Director O'Bannon's work in motion pictures, and membership in the International Alliance of Theater and Stage Employees ( IATSE) as an archivist, and numerous theatrical settings, define his exquisite representations of the intersection between eras in history and contemporary events.

Cedric O'Bannon's journalistic focus clarified in 2012. That was the year unarmed 17 year old, Trayvon Martin, was fatally shot, walking to his father's home in a closed community in Florida. By 2016, O'Bannon was filming political rallies of the man who would soon become the chief executive officer of the United States. But, it was June of 2016, while working as a video journalist, that Cedric O'Bannon was stabbed by a Neo-Nazi, wielding a spear at the end of a flag pole—which still bore an American flag. And so—history handed Cedric O'Bannon his documentary film and journalistic destiny, well before the siege on the USA capitol building in January, 2021.

Film Director Cedric O’Bannon is based in Oakland, California.

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Director Statement

This decade (the 2020s) already demands a rapid turnaround of creative information exchange. It is an era which out of necessity is dominated by screen narratives. From the analog world of motion picture film to the world of digital cinema, and journalism my multidisciplinary experience has given me insight into film, television, and live theatrical workflows that not only save money but can save a production.

Since the murder of Travon Martin in the United States, my work has been focused entirely on documenting the history and resurgence of fascism- and the subsequent anti-fascist movement. I have worked to developed as a quintessential filmmaker, with a bent for team building, and a focus on organization, journalistic reflection, and rapid project turnover. My goal is continual growth in the audiovisual arts and science—collaborating with others to do the same—at a time in history when this is not optional but essential.