KRON 4 | Live! In The Bay | Lyrical Opposition chats new documentary 'Re-Entrification'

Olivia (00:00)
With a mission to oppose injustices through lyrical arts, our next guests created a documentary titled Re-Entrification to bring awareness to the housing crisis Hhre in the Bay Area through spoken word poetry. Joining me now is Desire Lacap, Director of Photography, and Fego Navarro, Creative Director of Lyrical Opposition. Thank you both so much, Desire and to Figo, for joining us here today on Live in the Bay.Thank you.

Olivia (00:22)
Appreciate you.It's.

Olivia (00:23)
An honor.Of course. I'm really excited to talk about Lyrical Opposition. But maybe for those who have never heard of who you guys are, tell us what you do.

Speaker 2 (00:31)
We're an artist collective, off in Bay Area, up and down, from San Francisco to Oakland to Richmond. We have poets, musicians, painters, filmmakers. We do a lot of work in the community through the arts, and we impose injustice, and there's a lot of injustices out there, so we like to represent for our people.

Speaker 3 (00:51)
Wonderful. And when it comes to representing and opposing some of these injustices, why did you guys feel like this was a big need that needed to be filled out here in the Bay Area?

Olivia (00:59)
Yeah, I mean, as artists, we have that gift to be able to shed light on topics that need to be told. And it's everywhere. And personally, it's things that we've gone through as growing up, and we see it everywhere. So just producing things that need to be heard and need to be told is where it started in a way.

Speaker 3 (01:19)
That's so wonderful, too, that you guys use your skills as artists to be able to get those messages through. And you also have done that with your new documentary, Reentrification. Can you guys tell me what went into building this project and why it was so important? Oh, man.

Speaker 2 (01:32)
It's a labor of love. It would have not been possible without a team, without Desirela Capture here, and the Director of Photography and Editor. We had an opportunity to share stories about the Unhoused. Through an organization called the Firm Foundation, which is building tiny homes in the Bay Area, we were able to team up with them and tell the stories of these five residents who have been unhoused in their journey and finding a home. We were able to incorporate spoken word poetry because we're about bars and hip hop. We were able to incorporate that. We had Tango Martin, San Francisco's Poet Laureate, be a part of it. Jimmy Fails from the Last Black Men, San Francisco share his testimony. It's just been really cool to bring all these people together to share these stories.

Speaker 3 (02:16)
Desri, as director of photography and an editor, what was it like for you to see visually and bring to life visually what these people are going through so viewers can understand?

Olivia (02:26)
Yeah, it is an intense process. You You have to mentally prepare yourself to what you're hearing with these stories from these individuals that we've interviewed. But I think the magic is in the post-production process, and it's like, how do we want to tell this story to where others will understand, even if they're not really tapped into the topic, that's the magic of it.

Speaker 3 (02:50)
I can imagine, too, that it really is very magical, even though it's a sad story. People do need to understand what's going on out there. As director, and really head of this project. For you, what was the process like in creating this final product?

Speaker 2 (03:07)
Yeah, it's a puzzle. You're like, we're documentaries. This is my first one that I directed. It's literally you're hearing stories and you're seeing, Okay, how can we really bring light to these stories in a respectful manner in a way that shows the humanity and also incorporate poetry and art, which is the driving force of our project. So it was really important. And being all from the Bay Area also was important that we tell our stories and not wait for big other productions to try to tell it.

Speaker 3 (03:34)
What other work is Lyrical Opposition putting work in on? And what can people expect that's coming up from you guys? Absolutely.

Olivia (03:41)
There is a festival going on on June 24th in Brisbane, so that's a really big one that Hugo could talk about.

Speaker 3 (03:49)
And will reentrification be in that festival or just Lyrical Opposition as a whole?

Speaker 2 (03:53)
Lyrical Opposition as a whole. We'll be sharing about the film. It's a fundraiser as well, and we'll be having live music, a taco truck. Oh, tacos. Everybody loves tacos.

Speaker 3 (04:03)
Well, I love that. So people can definitely look forward to that. But if there are artists out there who hear about Lyrical Opposition and say, Maybe this is something I want to be part of, how do they get involved?

Speaker 2 (04:13)
Yeah, reach out to us through social media. If you Google Lyrical Opposition, all our work comes up, and we're going to have a lot more screenings coming up, too, for the film. So stay tuned for that. Yeah, it's been labor of love, as I mentioned.

Speaker 3 (04:26)
And what are some of the reactions you guys have received from the community, especially after the documentary.

Olivia (04:31)
We've had a ton of private screenings in a way, and we've received really good feedback where it was something that a lot of people... It is around us. We walk outside. It's happening. But them seeing the documentary has really put a different type of light onto the whole topic as a whole. Their perspective has changed in a way where because we included spoken word and it was a different perception, it really helped bring that more into perspective.

Speaker 3 (05:02)
That makes sense. What does it mean to you personally to be able to tell this story?

Speaker 2 (05:06)
It means everything. I'm born and raised, San Francisco Mission district. My mom went to Mission High. I've seen my parents there at the screening. It really is one of those moments where I was like, I've been wanting to do this since I was a kid and tell the stories of our community is extremely important. Being part of it, working in it. So, yeah, it was an honor.

Speaker 3 (05:24)
And what about for you, Desi?

Olivia (05:25)
It is like what he said. It's a full circle moment because back then when I was first starting out, I would create these type of documentaries that are so meaningful and to be able to produce a feature documentary film and really go in-depth with the topic of what really is going on. I mean, we're not here to fix the issue, but as artists, we want to shed the light on these topics that need to be heard.

Speaker 3 (05:46)
Well, you guys are definitely doing just that through Lyrical Opposition. So thank you so much for joining us here today on Live in the Bay. We appreciate it.

Olivia (05:52)
Thank.