Public Comment

The sudden, untimely death of San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi left a legacy of memories, achievements, and unfinished projects—including a half-finished documentary film. While Adachi was best known for his legal efforts he was also respected for his work as a filmmaker.

Adachi's film documentaries include: The Slanted Screen: Asian Men in Film and Television (2006); You Don't Know Jack: The Jack Soo Story (2009); Racial Facial (2016); and Defender (2017).

Defender documented Adachi's real-life struggle to defend a young African-American man charged with assaulting the police after he was falsely accused of a crime. The film also details the public defender's struggle to represent hundreds of poor immigrants caught up in deportation proceedings.

When Adachi died, he was wrapping up Ricochet, his latest film. Ricochet tells the story of a tragic killing that rocked San Francisco and became a national sensation. 

You know the story. A young woman named Kate Steinle was walking on Pier 14 with her father when she was struck by a bullet accidentally fired from a pistol found by an undocumented immigrant named Jose Garcia Zarate 

Now Adachi's co-director, Chihiro WImbush has teamed with Associate Producer Zachary Stickney in an effort to finish Adachi's last film. 

Wimbush and Stickney and no strangers to the local filmmaking scene. They both worked on Dogtown Redemption, Amir Soltani's transformative—and transcendent—immersion in the lives of several homeless Oaklanders whose only source of income is found in the trash they are able to collect and exchange at a community recycling station. 

Soltani is also part of the team that has committed to bringing Adachi's last film to the screen. As Soltani explains, Adachi's goal was to create films that would tell “the story of so many people who struggle and fight against injustice, and the public defenders that represent them.” So Adachi set out to create a series of films focused on the work of the San Francisco Office of the Public Defender. These included Defender and an award-winning short film called The Ride. 

According to Soltani, Adachi understood that "with Black Lives Matter, and the criminal justice reform movement in this country, the time is now to show the important work that public defenders do every day in fighting for the constitutional rights of everyday Americans.” 

RIcochet documents the divisive power of hate when it's employed by a master manipulator like Donald Trump. As Soltani recalls: Steinle's death "sparked a political and media firestorm—spearheaded by the anti-immigrant rhetoric of presidential candidate Donald J. Trump—that rattled the nation, exploited the tragedy of a family, and demonized an innocent man in the process. 

"Ricochet weaves Trump’s rise through the main narrative of the trial, led by a defense team featuring Chief Attorney Matt Gonzalez and Francisco Ugarte, Managing Attorney of their Immigration Defense Unit." They not only had to contest with the prosecution in this case, but also had to overcome a "court of public opinion warped by political agendas and false media narratives." 

Adachi began filming Ricochet in late 2017. The People of the State of California v. Jose Ines Garcia Zarate was the biggest case his office had ever undertaken. Filming continued through the spring of 2018, and the first edits were created that year as well. Sadly, with Adachi's accidental drug-induced death in February 2019, the film was placed on hold. Recently, with the blessing of Jeff's widow Mutusko, Wimbush, assumed the directing and editing challenges. 

"Now the long winding journey of this production is entering its final phase," Soltani wrote in a recent email. "We are now very close to a final cut, and we need to raise $50,000 in the next three weeks to get there." The remaining work sound mixing, color correction, music licensing, legal and insurance costs, and other post-production elements. "Additional funds beyond this goal will allow us to publicize the film in the way it deserves so we can share this story as widely as possible with impact." 

Here's a trailer for the nearly finished film: 

Team Adachi has set up a GoFundMe page to cover the final, wrap-up costs. The goal is to raise $50,000 over the next few weeks. According to Soltani, donors will have their names added to the film’s on-screen closing credits. "We deeply appreciate your help," Sotani says, "and we can’t wait to bring Jeff’s final film to the world." 

And, speaking of recommended viewing: Here's a glimpse at the raw and wrenching record of human-striving-against-all-odds that these filmmakers managed to capture in the award-winning documentary, Dogtown Redemption.