The night before his 2013 debut feature “Fruitvale Station” hit theaters, director Ryan Coogler sat down for a wide-ranging talk hosted by Film at Lincoln Center. Early in their conversation, then-director of the New York nonprofit, Eugene Hernandez, asked Coogler how he felt on the eve of his first film opening nationwide. “I can’t really describe it,” Coogler began. He was effusive and wide-eyed, looking out into an audience hanging on his every word.
“I never imagined getting the opportunity to make it in the first place,” Coogler continued. “It was a miracle that we could even finish it. We were scrapping for money, scrapping for time. Once we [edited it], it was like, is anybody ever gonna see it? We just wanted to make something that people could sit down and … see a little bit of themselves in. From there, maybe that could lead to a thought process, whether they love it or whether they hate it.”
