"Nuestro Oak Cliff" Documentary

As the City of Dallas experiences exponential growth, the influx of new residents and development continues to transform the surrounding communities and impact the unique cultural and social landscapes of the city. Oak Cliff, once its own municipality established in the early 1900s, has become one of the most thriving cultural centers of the Latino community in Dallas. Currently, under the pressure of gentrification, the tethers to history and the residents that helped to build this community as we know it, are in flux. Now more than ever DMAHL recognizes the importance in uplifting our lived experiences.

Nuestro Oak Cliff is a reclamation of our narrative, memories of space and places that have shaped us and we have helped shape. With this film, we will chronicle the historical and personal stories of Nuestro Oak Cliff.

Directed by Eboni Johnson. With a wandering creative eye, Eboni is a storyteller driven to build a platform for communities of color by any means necessary. She aims to highlight stories on equity and the intersectionality of social and cultural identities. Recently completing her MFA in Documentary Production and Studies at the University of North Texas, Eboni continues to diversify her portfolio with award-winning audio documentary, Good Soil, Good Souls: The Story of Bonton Farms, and is currently in the development phase of her community storytelling mobile app, West Dallas AR.

The film premiere was presented in tandem with the 2021 "Nuestro Oak Cliff" Exhibit for Hispanic / LatinX Heritage Month and is an iteration of the Jesse Tafalla Speaker Series (Jesse Tafalla was a founder of the Dallas Mexican American Historical League. This speaker series was named in his honor when he passed away in 2012.)