Wood Street Documentary Making Rounds at Local Film Festivals
For many neighbors, the Wood Street encampment represented a hub for illegal dumping, a magnet for stolen vehicles, and the source of nearly weekly plumes of black smoke from hazardous RV fires. But for the estimated 300 unhoused individuals who lived there, it was simply “home.”
A new documentary, Wood Street, chronicles the turbulent 2023 eviction of the massive West Oakland encampment just south of the Emeryville border. The film highlights how residents built a self-governed village of hand-made sheds and RVs, turning the site into a powerful symbol of community self-determination.
Directed by former San Francisco Chronicle producer Caron Creighton, the feature debut—which earned an SFFilm residency and a Bay Area Video Coalition fellowship—is told through the intimate perspectives of camp residents turned community organizers John Janosko and LaMonté Ford. Following its world premiere at the prestigious Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Wood Street will make its highly anticipated local debut on July 14, 2026, at Oakland’s New Parkway Theater.