#SPOTLIGHT ON THE NORTH POLE CREATORS

How did you come of age as an artist? How did you come to your current practice?

Josh got his artistic start in spoken word, became a regular performer on NPR's Snap Judgment, until he decided to try film and web shorts. Yvan studied film in college, produced several PBS documentaries, and is now working on more narrative and feature films. Darren is a long-time community filmmaker, worked in Hollywood on such movies as A Wrinkle in Time, Steve Jobs, and currently divides his time between Oakland and Los Angeles. We met through a strange mix of art, activism, and socialist soccer. The next step together was obvious: make a web series!

What was the inspiration for your OTV project?

We wanted to make The North Pole because there's no place on earth like Oakland. And untiI Neil deGrasse Tyson says otherwise, there's no planet in the universe like Earth. We call both these places home - and both are suffering through their own kind of 'climate change.' At a time when whole communities and environments are being displaced and disposed of, The North Pole is our creative picket line-turned-comedy roast - our crazy love letter to Oakland and all the people and places around the world worth defending.

What's next for you or your series?

We're hard at work on various individual and collective projects…possibly including Season 2!