My Own Mecca
Director: Alba Roland Mejia
United States, 2020, 11 min
Shooting Format:Super 16mm film
Festival Year:2021
Category:Narrative Short
Cast:Marsalis Burton, Errick Thompson, Rachelle Highbrou
Crew:Writers: Alba Roland Mejia, Jon Warfield Harrison, Saida Edwards. Producers: Maddy Graves, Monica Castro.
Email:albarolandmejia@gmail.com
Synopsis
Oakland native, Dre, must contort himself in order to safely navigate through life. We follow Dre as he comes to terms with the relationship between his vessel and his world.
Trailer
About the director
Alba Roland Mejia is a writer, producer, and director based in Oakland, CA. She has an MFA in Cinema from San Francisco State University (SFSU) with a focus in directing narrative. Alba's work focuses on the African diaspora and strives to capture the true essence of storytelling by pulling from real life experiences.
Filmmaker's note
My Own Mecca increases representation for Bay Area stories through an accurate depiction of life in the Bay Area, specifically those who are people of color. Our crew consists of mostly Bay Area student creatives from various backgrounds. It was important to me to keep this film as local as possible in order to keep the integrity of the story. Oakland carries a strong sense of oneness and community that we felt it was important to take a closer look into an individuals life experiences.
My Own Mecca is a film based on personal experiences of the writers that isn't solely the story of our own but can be seen as a representative of other people of color.
This project touches on the many situations that black men find themselves strategically navigating through their everyday lives in order to protect their vessel from the outside world. This short film can serve as a way for people going through these experiences to have a positive outlet to discover more about themselves through conversation with others who have experience similar moments.