The Archivists (2025)
Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor | Short Film | 7 minutes
On view now at the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) Special Exhibition Black Spaces: Reclaim and Remain,
July 2025-March 2026
The film follows the archival and artistic process of the Archive of Urban Futures, a research and arts collective led by Dr. Brandi Summers. Together they unearth and preserve stories of Black Oaklanders from the 1800s into the future through archival research, oral history and film production, zine development, and collage and visual arts.
Trailer
I work as a photographer, filmmaker, and project lead in the Archive of Urban Futures
My work involves producing our oral history interviews and directing our short film about Black Oakland history (in progress), creating documentary portraiture of our group and community partners, and facilitating our team of diverse talents and areas of expertise.
This short film offers a window into the philosophy and process of the Archive project - building out place-based Black histories by repurposing traditional tools of archiving towards the life-affirming everyday acts of place-making and community. The film was commissioned by OMCA (the Oakland Museum of California) for the special exhibition Black Spaces: Reclaim and Remain.
Archive of Urban Futures Members
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Dr. Brandi T. Summers (Principal Investigator)
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Maya Sapienza
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Clara Pérez Medina
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juleon robinson
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Bobby Ortiz Stahl
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Cat Summers Stoehr
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Mateo Villa
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Krista McAtee
Film Credits
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Director: Clara Pérez Medina
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Producer: Clara Pérez Medina
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Cinematographer: Clara Pérez Medina
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Editor: Clara Pérez Medina
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Writers: Clara Pérez Medina and Cat Summers Stoehr
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Assistant Producer: Cat Summers Stoehr
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Executive Producer: Brandi T Summers, PhD
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Sound Recorded & Mixed By: Clara Pérez Medina
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Photographer: Clara Pérez Medina
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Additional Cinematography: Meriam Salem, Krista McAtee
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Zine Illustration: Krista McAtee
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Zine Writers: Mateo Villa, Krista McAtee
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Archival Researchers: Maya Sapienza, juleon robinson, Mateo Villa
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With Special Thanks To: Angel Ross, PhD, Diana Diroy, Angela Kim, Meriam Salem
In the News
Oakland Museum of California Announces Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain
May 1, 2025 | OMCA
The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) announces Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain, a History exhibition exploring how Black American communities in the Bay Area have resisted dispossession by carving out spaces of care, safety, and home. These stories are told through ... new commissions by artist Adrian Burrell, architect June Grant with blinkLAB architecture, and the Archive of Urban Futures and Moms 4 Housing, each offering ideas for the future of Black spaces. Read the full press release here.
UC Berkeley student collective Archive of Urban Futures shines at new OMCA exhibit
July 25, 2025 | Rosa Norton, Berkeley News
Over the course of three years, the group — composed of graduate students in geography and cultural anthropology as well as undergraduates ... conducted oral histories, led community workshops, and dug deep into the city of Oakland’s public archives.
Over time, this work resulted in a 7-minute film, “The Archivists” (2025), two richly stimulating student zines, and historical timelines of the Black experience of the city, all of which are incorporated into the museum display. Read the full feature here.
‘There are Black people in the future’: Oakland Museum exhibit documents displacement and resistance
July 18,2025 | Ashley McBride, Oaklandside
The contribution from Archive of Urban Futures, a collaboration between UC Berkeley researchers and Moms 4 Housing, documents the history of Black people and Black power in Oakland from 1950 to the present. Viewers can walk into a life-size replica of 2928 Magnolia St., a neglected investor-owned house in West Oakland that a group of homeless mothers occupied in 2019 to highlight the affordable housing crisis — eventually gaining ownership. Read the full article here.