With its distinctive topography, iconic landmarks, and cinematic atmosphere, San Francisco has long served as Hollywood’s backdrop for crime thrillers, from Vertigo, Bullitt, and Dirty Harry to Copycat, The Rock, and Zodiac.
But with Splash City, Bay Area rapper, Cookies founder, and first-time filmmaker Berner tells a story from the inside, grounded in the neighborhoods, language, and culture that shaped this chip off the old block.
Special screenings with Berner in attendance are scheduled for Fri/31 in San Jose and Sat/1 in San Francisco before the film streams on demand this fall.
The crime drama, co-written and co-directed by Berner, follows two brothers headed toward starkly different futures. Slim (Zach Sowers) sees basketball as a possible way out, while Juju (Reed Shannon) becomes increasingly entangled in the world of bipping, or smash-and-grab car burglaries. Beneath the crime story is a coming-of-age tale about loyalty, betrayal, and life-altering decisions.
Berner’s music has long chronicled street life through songs like “20 Joints,” while hits including “El Chivo” and “Best Thang Smokin'” helped expand his audience. Film, however, offered a larger canvas—one that could bring those people, places, and conflicts to life.
“It’s a lot more fun, honestly,” he tells 48 Hills. “You can bring the world together visually, which is what you try to achieve with music videos, but on a whole different level. So I really enjoyed it.”
Splash City first emerged during the height of San Francisco’s bipping wave, when car break-ins had become a constant presence across the city. Rather than sensationalize it, Berner wanted to tell the story of the people living through it.
“It was a big moment for us when we started feeling the whole bipping wave, and a lot of us were affected by it,” he says. “I felt like, let me just go ahead and tell this story.”
Berner sees Splash City as the Bay Area’s answer to Juice and New Jersey Drive—films that gave New York and Jersey culturally specific identities on screen.
Like those films, he wanted to build Splash City around rhythms, slang, and music that could only come from lived experience.
“People picture SF as cable cars and this beautiful place,” he says. “I wanted to bring that world that we’ve never really seen before on film to life.”
Although crime provides the story’s framework, the emotional center of Splash City is the relationship between Juju and Slim. Raised in the same environment, the brothers respond to their circumstances in dramatically different ways, revealing how shared origins do not guarantee a shared future.
Berner drew on his relationship with his own brother to shape the bond between Juju and Slim. “Brothers have a very deep connection,” he says.
That relationship anchors the film in something universal. Viewers may not recognize every neighborhood reference or piece of local slang, but anyone can understand the pain of watching someone they love make choices they cannot control.
Juju and Slim’s story asks how far family loyalty can extend—and what happens when protecting someone begins to threaten your own future.
Authenticity extended to the casting process. Berner relied heavily on local performers, believing lived experience couldn’t be manufactured. Some actors came through auditions, while others were people he already knew had ambitions to perform.
“The majority of them are local,” he says. “And that’s what made the film so authentic, edgy, and raw. The biggest thing I’m excited about with this film is breaking local talent. They have a personality and swagger you haven’t really seen yet.”
The same philosophy extended to the soundtrack. As an artist who has spent decades contributing to Bay Area hip-hop, Berner had no intention of handing scoring duties to anyone else.
“Oh, that’s all me—100 percent,” he says.
The soundtrack mixes established Bay Area artists with newer voices—including Mozzy, Young Sight, J. Stalin, San Quinn, and The Hoodstarz.
Like the film itself, the gritty rap is meant to reflect Berner’s Bay Area. Even so, he doesn’t believe Splash City will leave audiences with a scary view of San Francisco.
“This is based on some real stuff,” he says. “I’m not going to sugarcoat that, but I don’t think that really deters people from coming to San Francisco.”
Instead, he hopes the film broadens audiences’ understanding of a city that contains far more stories than its most familiar screen images suggest.
Life imitated art when Berner attended a recent Oakland screening of his movie. After years of avoiding the experience himself, he returned to find his car had been broken into.
“I got to my car, and was like, ‘You gotta be kidding me,’” he says. “But I smiled and was like, ‘This is the universe.'”
For Berner, Splash City is the beginning of a larger storytelling universe rooted in Northern California. He envisions future films centered on cannabis trafficking, organized crime, and the region’s diverse cultural communities.
“We have such a multicultural universe out here in the Bay Area,” he says.
Becoming a father and surviving cancer reshaped Berner’s ambitions. Across cannabis, music, and now film, he’s focused on building a legacy.
“I feel like what I do brings people together,” he says. “I want to live a long time through my work.”
SPLASH CITY WITH BERNER IN-PERSON 7/31 at AMC Eastridge 15, San Jose; 8/1 at AMC Metreon 16, SF. More info here.
