Special Note

This screening is part of  “An Evening of Social Justice” presented by Regan Baker Design. In partnership with the San Francisco Black Film Festival (SFBFF), this evening is an homage to the festival’s late director and co-founder, Kali O’Ray. O’Ray, who passed away in August 2020, is remembered as the heart of Black filmmaking in San Francisco. All proceeds of this evening will benefit Black creatives through the San Francisco Black Film Festival, Oakland International Film Festival, Black Artists + Designers Guild.

Prior to the feature film, two short films will be screened, including “Perspective”, a look at the work of four Black female artists whose work and stories resonated with the Regan Baker Design team. Additionally, SFBFF selected “America Needs A Racial Facial” for the evening’s line-up. A short film by the late San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi – a frequent police misconduct watchdog and bail reform advocate – the film is about race in America, depicting both the division and blending that has characterized the history and treatment of people of color in this country.

Special Event Partners

San Francisco Black Film Festival, Oakland International Film Festival, LMNOP Design + Build

Feature Details

About “42”: Following Jackie Robinson’s (Boseman) historic demolition of Major League Baseball’s segregated “color barrier,” the film opens with Robinson in his 1945 season with the Negro league’s Kansas City Monarchs. As Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey (Ford) searches for the right player to integrate the sport, writer Wendell Smith (Holland) steers the executive to Robinson. Signed to the Dodger’s farm club the Montreal Royals for the 1946 season, Robinson moves up to the major league spotlight in 1947. 42 demonstrates the racism surrounding Robinson on the field, in the team’s offices, and in the stands, highlighting the steely resolve and resiliency necessary to become a baseball hero and an American legend. Made in consultation with Rachel Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s wife, the film achieved her goal: “I wanted it to be an authentic piece. I wanted to get it right.” The role of Robinson proved to be Boseman’s breakout turn, and he would go on to portray James Brown (in 2014’s Get on Up), Thurgood Marshall (in 2017’s Marshall) and the fictional Wakandan hero and king T’Challa (in 2018’s Black Panther). RIP Chadwick Boseman (1976 – 2020).

Director: Brian Helgeland

Year Released: 2013

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 128 minutes

Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Nicole Beharie, Christopher Meloni, André Holland, Lucas Black, Hamish Linklater, Ryan Merriman

Showing: October 21, 5pm