Award-winning filmmaker Ryan Coogler got visibly emotional at the National Board of Review Awards Gala as he opened up about the killing of Renee Nicole Good.
Good, 37, was gunned down by an ICE agent identified as Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis on January 7. Ross opened fire on Good after she moved her car during a confrontation.
Good’s murder drew divided opinions among American politicians and citizens. While her death was labeled as murder by some politicians and commentators, Trump administration officials begged to differ, claiming that the ICE agent acted in self-defense, per The Hollywood Reporter. They also described Good as a “domestic terrorist.”
Coogler, 39, touched on Good’s killing when he took the stage to accept an award for best original screenplay for Sinners, the award-winning movie he wrote and directed. Coogler, in his speech, reflected on the first film he directed, Fruitvale Station. The 2013 biopic sheds light on Oscar Grant III, the Black man who was killed in Oakland by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle on January 1, 2009.
“I was young and naive, and I thought the movie was going to change the world and make it so you didn’t see people executed by civil servants on camera anymore. I was proven wrong again and again. And it’s tough to be here and not think about Minnesota,” a visibly emotional Coogler said. “My heart is broken. I can’t be here and not think about Renee.”
Ryan Coogler chokes back tears as he says, “It’s tough to be here and not think about Minnesota. My heart is there right now… I can’t be here and not think about Renee.”
— Jada Yuan (@jadabird) January 14, 2026
He is was last at @NBRfilm in 2014 for “Fruitvale Station,” about the killing of Oscar Grant pic.twitter.com/h7CLyoM0zk
The Black Panther star wasn’t the only person to talk about Good’s death at the event, as filmmakers Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus did the same. The pair was honored for the best documentary for Cover-up.
Poitras reflected on the current political climate in the United States as well as abroad, telling The Hollywood Reporter that what is happening has made this awards season “schizophrenic.”
“I think it’s kind of schizophrenic, but I think we have to use the platform to talk about the reason we made the film, which is that the essential right of press freedom in this country, we can’t take it for granted, because it’s not a given that we will have it, and these rights are being stripped away,” Poitras told the news outlet before Tuesday’s event.
“When we see what happened to Renee Good, being killed in cold blood for a protected right of protest is terrifying. So why am I here tonight? Is to say that to you and to say that to cameras and use the platform wisely.”
Poitras also said she was “surprised” that the current happenings and Good’s killing weren’t widely addressed at the Golden Globe Awards.
“I was surprised that there wasn’t more noting of what a really terrifying moment we’re in, given both the regime change that’s happened and the killing of a protester in broad daylight.” she said. “I think we should be talking about those things.”
Obenhaus, on the other hand, stated that the “message of the film is about what’s going on right now and the suppression of journalism.” He added that “it’s always been the case but not to the degree that there’s this much suppression of free expression.”
Poitras also said, “One thing that I feel is important to say and it’s something that Sy [Hersh] has said throughout his career. We do have a right. Press freedom is an enshrined right in this country. So when you see journalists that don’t speak maybe as freely as they think or when you see something like 60 Minutes withdrawing a news program because of government pressure, that is the press hurting the press.”
She further said on stage, “Journalism is not repeating government narratives. We all know that the CIA is capable of regime change, kidnapping, stealing resources. That’s really not news, and it should not be presented as that. It’s illegal, and it should be presented in the long historical context in which these actions are happening.”
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