People know Berner through his global weed brand, Cookies, and through his music.
But those who’ve been paying close attention know that Gilbert Milam Jr.’s vision and aspirations expand far beyond the music studio and helming the most well-known weed brand in the world.
In an interview for a February 2022 Leaf Magazines cover story, Berner told me that his next frontier would be the film industry. A huge A24 buff, Berner wanted to build on the foundation laid by the greats of underground crime cinema.
Cut to present day, and I caught up with Berner in the midst of a promotional tour for “Splash City,” his first film, which he storyboarded before scripting with the help of David Mansanalez of 4 Ways Entertainment. Berner funded and produced the film himself.
Berner wrote “Splash City” as a Bay Area crime drama inspired by the region’s notorious reputation for smash-and-grab car crime, aka “bipping.” It was recently picked up for this limited distribution run by Lionsgate, one of the most well-known film distribution companies in the industry. It features fresh Bay Area talent, including Zakee Brooks as Cloudy, and a downright frightening performance by Zakee’s older brother Quincy Brooks as the film’s nefarious villain, Dolo.
“It was just something that was going on,” Berner said about the plot of the film. “If you lived in San Francisco or visited San Francisco, you couldn’t get away from the bipping situation. And I was like, OK. I wanted to start with something that was really relevant. It was a really big problem. I felt like there’s some truth to some of these stories in this film, so I want to tell that.”
Over the course of our conversation, I brought up one of my personal favorite iconic hip-hop crime films, Hype Williams’ “Belly,” and asked if that was an inspiration for Berner’s film.
“A hundred percent,” he said. “I feel like people haven’t been hittin’ like that. ‘Belly,’ ‘Menace (II Society),’ ‘Boyz in the Hood,’ ‘Big Ballers,’ ‘Casino,’ ‘Blood In Blood Out,’ ‘American Me,’ you name it. We’re not really seeing those anymore.”
The people are ready. The first 11 cities on his Lionsgate tour sold out almost immediately, with people clamoring to get a chance to watch the film with Berner. It was obvious that the crowd at the screening in Bay-adjacent Sacramento felt that they were experiencing something close to home up on the silver screen. There were a lot of familiar faces in the crowd, many a part of the extended Cookies family. The success of the first showings led to Lionsgate adding week-long runs at another 15 theaters across the country.
With the initial success of “Splash City,” Berner’s fired up about his new career trajectory.
“I co-wrote it, co-directed it and definitely financed and produced it myself,” Berner said. “This movie was my film school. I learned everything I needed to learn from here. … The next one’s going to be a weed crime thriller, so it’s going to be all about trafficking and some of the dark things that come with that. It’s going to be based on true events. And you can expect to see our world that you’re very familiar with from the trap world of the Bay Area. I can’t wait for that one. I’m very, very anxious. I hope I could partner with Lionsgate on this as well. But that’s my next thing. I’ve already started writing it. It’s really, really, really, really sick.”
For Berner, it’s all about showing out for the city that made him.
“I just want to put light on the Bay Area,” he said. “That’s all I ever wanted to do, whether it be music or Cannabis. I remember moving to Arizona as a kid and people making fun of where I was from, and making fun of the city, and just saying what they had to say about it. And I’m like, let me just show people how dope we really are, how many trends we really set and how responsible we are for just really putting designer weed on the map. … We haven’t had a chance to tell our stories yet. And I feel like Boston and LA and New York and Chicago and many other cities have told their stories for many, many, many years. But this is our time, and I’m kicking it off for all of us. I want to inspire others to make films about NorCal. I want to inspire others to make films about the city. And whether people love it or hate it, it’s going to be that kind of creative juice that makes them want to go do the same thing.”
Watch the “Splash City” trailer.
Additional Dates
Atlanta: AMC Southlake 24
Detroit: AMC Livonia 20
Houston: AMC Gulf Pointe 30
Houston: AMC Willowbrook 24
Houston: AMC Deerbrook 24
Los Angeles: AMC South Bay Galleria 16
Miami-Fort Lauderdale: AMC Aventura 24
Miami-Fort Lauderdale: AMC Pompano Beach 18
New York: AMC Empire 25
Philadelphia: AMC Cherry Hill 24
Philadelphia: AMC Voorhees 16
Phoenix: Harkins Arizona Mills
Salt Lake City: AMC West Jordan 12
Seattle-Tacoma: AMC Pacific Place 11
Seattle-Tacoma: AMC Southcenter 16
