The newcomers behind ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The names Jimmie Fails and Joe Talbot probably don’t sound familiar now, but that will soon change when audiences see their film “The Last Black Man in San Francisco.” It opens nationwide Friday and is already one of the most acclaimed of the year.

Fails based the story, and the title character who shares his name, on his own experience losing his family’s home in a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco. Talbot, a fellow San Franciscan and Fails’ longtime friend, directed.

Neither had any connections to the film world, but found a mentor in filmmaker Barry Jenkins, who they cold-emailed for advice.

They eventually found financing and distribution from Brad Pitt’s Plan B and A24, the same companies behind Jenkins’ best picture winner “Moonlight.”