Fruitvale-Station-PosterOut in Sundance at the start of the year, Ryan Coogler made what promises to be a very memorable feature debut with Fruitvale Station (then titled simply Fruitvale).

Based on real life events, the film made its world premiere out in Park City to a rapturous reception, bringing home two awards for Coogler and substantial praise for leading man Michael B. Jordan. And with its US release date fast approaching this weekend, IMDb have released a new featurette for the film.

Oscar Grant was a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who loved his friends, was generous to strangers, and had a hard time telling the truth to the mother of his beautiful daughter. He was scared and courageous and charming and raw, and as human as the community he was part of. That community paid attention to him, shouted on his behalf, and filmed him with their cell phones when BART officers, who were strong, intimidated, and acting in the way they thought they were supposed to behave around people like Oscar, shot him in cold blood at the Fruitvale subway stop on New Year’s Day in 2009.

Starring alongside Jordan will be Octavia Spencer, Melonie Diaz, Ahna O’Reilly, Kevin Durand, and Chad Michael Murray.

Coogler makes his feature debut as both writer and director here, directing from his own script.

Winning both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for Coogler in the Dramatic categories, the film very quickly became an early Oscar contender this year. It was originally to be released much later in the year by The Weinstein Company, who we all know like to acquire films they can promote in the awards season, but was brought forward to this month, and it will be interesting to see if that affects its chances come year’s end.

Fruitvale Station will start its limited release in the US this Friday, July 12th. As of yet, still no word on a UK release date. But here’s to hoping it crosses the Atlantic within the next few months, because this looks like it could be one of the best films of the year.