Ferrufino discusses the real communities behind the crime drama.
Splash City may unfold against the dangerous streets of San Francisco, but co-director Alex Ferrufino never wanted its characters to become familiar crime-movie stereotypes. The gritty crime drama follows brothers Juju and Slim as they struggle to survive in a world where loyalty can turn into betrayal without warning. Slim sees basketball as a possible way out. Meanwhile, Juju becomes increasingly involved in smash-and-grab robberies under the control of a crew leader who cannot be trusted.
As violence closes in around them, the brothers must decide whether they can fight for something better or become part of the destructive legacy surrounding them.
Ferrufino directed Splash City alongside Bay Area rapper and entrepreneur Gilbert Anthony Milam Jr., better known as Berner. During a conversation with Nerdtropolis, Ferrufino explained how his own upbringing helped him connect with the film’s world, even though he grew up hundreds of miles away from San Francisco.
“I always tell people that being from an urban culture, from the upbringing of the neighborhood, the hood, however you want to call it, no matter what part of the city you’re from or what part of the state you’re from, there’s always a neighborhood,” Ferrufino said. “There’s always a hood. There’s always the ghetto.”
For Ferrufino, those environments were already deeply familiar. “That world’s familiar to me,” he continued. “I grew up in L.A., but once you have a sense of that world and you understand that world, you also respect the subcultures.”
Alex Ferrufino Approached the Bay Area Through His Los Angeles Upbringing
Ferrufino understood that familiarity alone would not be enough to authentically represent San Francisco.
He pointed out that neighborhoods can share certain struggles while maintaining their own distinct cultures, identities, languages, and traditions. East Los Angeles is not the same as South Central Los Angeles, just as neither community can be treated as interchangeable with the Bay Area. “I took where I was raised and started to understand the Bay Area based off the perspective of the lens of me growing up in the neighborhood,” Ferrufino said.
The filmmakers also conducted research and spoke with people who had grown up in the areas represented in the movie. Those conversations helped Ferrufino recognize the common ground between the communities while learning what made the Bay Area unique. “Once we started doing the research and interviewing people and them getting raised in this environment, I was like, ‘Oh, this is just home,’” he explained. “It’s just different language, different lingo. That’s what it really is, learning the lingo of each city.”
However, Ferrufino knew that connecting with the environment did not remove his responsibility to portray it correctly. “It was easy in the sense that it’s familiar, but it was also hard work because you want to do it right,” he said. “You want to show the city and put that flavor of what the Bay Area is, who they are, their identity, and put it all together for them and make sure that you’re doing justice to that.”
Berner Wanted to Give His City a Voice
Berner’s personal connection to the Bay Area played an important role in shaping Splash City.
Ferrufino praised his co-director for creating an opportunity to tell a story grounded in the people and culture of Northern California. “Shout out to Berner because he gave us the opportunity to do that, and he wants to do that for his city, for the Bay Area, because he’s from the Bay,” Ferrufino said. “I’m not, but he is.”
The production also included writer and producer David Mansanalez, who is from Sacramento. According to Ferrufino, the filmmakers recognized that Northern California communities have not always received the same level of representation as other major regions. “There’s not that much film community out here, or a voice for this community up here,” he said. “It was Berner’s goal to do that.”
Berner brought the concept to Mansanalez, who co-wrote the screenplay with him. From there, the team began developing the characters, themes, and environment that would ultimately become Splash City. “We sat down and just started coming up with an idea from everything he wanted and just kind of flourished what Splash City is now,” Ferrufino said.
Splash City Does Not Shy Away From Crime
Street culture is frequently exaggerated, simplified, or presented through stereotypes on screen. Ferrufino wanted Splash City to remain honest about crime and violence without celebrating either one. “There are two things that I focus on, and I focus on humanizing characters,” he said. “Every time I dive into a movie or a topic of this nature where there’s the hood, the stereotypes, the crime, this part of our society is part of our nature.”
Ferrufino did not believe the filmmakers should soften the reality of the world they were depicting. At the same time, he never wanted audiences to view its characters only through their criminal actions. “I don’t want to glorify it, but I don’t want to not tell the truth,” he said. “The truth is there, but it starts by humanizing the characters, by giving them a human perspective.”
Ferrufino offered the example of how lowrider culture is often inaccurately represented in movies.
A filmmaker may associate a lowrider with gang violence, but that image fails to recognize the time, money, craftsmanship, and pride involved in building one. “The goal is not to see a cholo just ride a lowrider,” Ferrufino explained. “The truth is they don’t drive a lowrider to do a drive-by. That’s a $100,000 car.”
For him, challenging those assumptions means creating people who feel recognizable beyond the labels placed upon them. “That’s where I think the stereotype and flipping the story is where you give it a perspective, where you humanize these characters and make them believable enough,” he said. “‘Damn, that’s my brother. That’s my sister, That’s my cousin, That’s my mom, That’s my dad.’ That’s the goal.”
That approach guided Ferrufino whether audiences categorize Splash City as a crime drama, a street film, or what he referred to as a “hood movie.” “For me, it’s humanizing these characters,” he said. “Are they relatable? Why are they doing this?”
A Splash City Scene Became Real Across the Street
Ferrufino experienced one especially surreal moment while filming in San Francisco’s Fillmore neighborhood. The production was shooting a story involving “bippin’,” a Bay Area term commonly associated with breaking into vehicles and stealing items from them. While the cast and crew recreated that activity for the film, a similar crime was unfolding nearby. “We’re on set shooting a movie about bippin’, smash-and-grab cars,” Ferrufino recalled. “As we’re doing that, we’re seeing it happen right across the street.”
The moment demonstrated how closely the film’s fictional story reflected events affecting the city in real life. “We’re in the city doing it, and across the street from the set, it’s happening to people,” he said. “That was the surreal moment for me.”
Lionsgate Gave the Independent Film a Larger Platform
Splash City began as an independent production, meaning its filmmakers faced the uncertainty that comes with developing a movie without knowing how widely it might eventually be seen.
Ferrufino said learning that Lionsgate would give the film a larger platform brought an overwhelming sense of excitement and gratitude. “You get excited, man,” he said. “You get excited for all the hard work and the sacrifice and all the ups and downs and the roller coaster.”
The acquisition represented far more than a distribution agreement. It recognized the contributions of every person who had worked to complete the movie. “I thank God that somebody at Lionsgate said, ‘You know what? Let’s give these guys a chance. Let’s give this film a chance,’” Ferrufino said.
He emphasized that the film’s journey belonged to the entire production, from its production assistants to its executive producers. “They put their blood and souls into a movie that now is getting the light,” he said. “It’s not just getting shelved.”
Ferrufino knows many independent movies never receive that opportunity. “There are so many filmmakers out there that make movies, and they’re just sitting there because a company doesn’t see the movie or give it the light that Lionsgate gave this film,” he said. “I’m so thankful for that.”
Alex Ferrufino Is Developing a Sci-Fi Horror Project
Although Ferrufino remains drawn to crime dramas, he is interested in blending the genre with something audiences may not expect. “I always like this genre,” he said. “I always will fall into this genre.”
Rather than abandoning the world entirely, Ferrufino wants to take similarly grounded characters and place them inside a science-fiction horror story. “I think the genre that I’m aiming for is probably this same genre, but with a sci-fi horror to it,” he revealed. “Bringing these characters into a whole different world. Why not?”
Ferrufino then offered a small tease about his next project. “I think sci-fi horror will be the next thing for me in this world,” he said. “I got something cooking, man.”
Patience Helped Splash City Reach Audiences
Before concluding the conversation, Ferrufino reflected on the long road required to bring Splash City from an independent production to a Lionsgate release. “It’s a two-year journey,” he said. “The process has been up and down, but it took us two years to get to Lionsgate.”
The experience reinforced an important lesson about filmmaking, persistence, and waiting for the right opportunity. “Patience is your best friend,” Ferrufino said. “It doesn’t feel like it, but time is your best friend sometimes.”
That patience ultimately gave Ferrufino, Berner, and their collaborators the chance to bring a deeply personal Bay Area story to a much larger audience.
About Splash City
In Splash City, brothers Juju and Slim struggle to survive the streets of San Francisco, where loyalty can become betrayal in an instant. Slim views basketball as his possible escape, while Juju falls deeper into smash-and-grab robberies under the control of a backstabbing crew leader. As tensions rise, the brothers must choose between fighting for a brighter future and surrendering to the violent legacy threatening to consume them.
The film stars Reed Shannon, TJ Atoms, Christopher A’mmanuel, and Hazel Green.
Splash City is now playing in theaters.
Read more News on Nerdtropolis. Subscribe to our YouTube.
Discover more from Nerdtropolis - Movie News, Reviews, Interviews, and Trailers
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Sean Tajipour
Sean Tajipour is the Founder and Editor of Nerdtropolis and the host of the Moviegoers Society and Reel Insights Podcast. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association. You can follow on Twitter and Instagram @Seantaj.
