When Justin O. Cooper returned to South Carolina recently for a film festival screening just minutes from his alma mater, Benedict College, it wasn’t simply a filmmaker showing his work it was a homegrown artist reclaiming ground and planting legacy. His Oscar-qualifying documentary short, CIRILO, A Legacy Untold, is more than a cinematic project. It’s a historical reckoning. It’s cultural repair. It’s timely as hell.

Because what Cooper is doing with CIRILO is not just preservation, it’s positioning. In an era where immigration is criminalized, diversity programs are being rolled back, and Afro-Latinx voices are still pushed to the periphery, Cooper is pushing forward with precision.

The Untold Legacy of Cirilo McSween

“Born into poverty in Panama, Cirilo McSween defied the systemic racism of Jim Crow America to pursue the American Dream.”

That’s the official logline, but McSween’s story isn’t soundbite material. It’s a movement. A Black Panamanian immigrant who came to the U.S. without English and left behind a record of excellence, McSween was New York Life’s first Black agent in the 1950s, selling over a million dollars in insurance his first year. He built a business empire through McDonald’s franchises in Chicago, served as treasurer to Congressman Ralph Metcalfe, and became a close advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.

His fingerprints are all over civil rights, Black economics, and the overlooked intersections of Afro-Latinx identity in American power structures. Yet, somehow, his name doesn’t appear in most history books.

That silence is what Cooper set out to break.

A Storyteller with a Strategy

Cooper is more than a filmmaker. He’s a builder of narratives, of networks, of new industry pathways. From his foundation at Benedict College, where he graduated with honors in Mass Communication, to his leadership of JOCMedia & Entertainment in Los Angeles, Cooper has made it his mission to create stories that elevate the Black global experience and make sure they’re heard.

Armed with certifications from UCLA in Film & TV Development and Film Editing, and a place on the Motion Picture Editors Guild’s Industry Experience Roster (Local 700), he knows both the art and the architecture of media. And he knows how to play the long game.

“It’s not enough to tell a good story,” he says. “You have to tell the story that needs to be heard, and you have to know how to make people listen.”

Why CIRILO Matters Right Now

This film arrives at a moment when history is under assault, with banned books, whitewashed curricula, and a shrinking national attention span for anything complex or inconvenient. That’s what makes CIRILO urgent.

This isn’t just a story about an immigrant. It’s a story about a Black man from Panama who used every room he walked into, boardrooms, campaign offices, and churches, to fight for civil rights in a country that barely wanted to claim him.

At a time when migrants from Latin America are being villainized, detained, and deported, McSween’s life is a reminder: immigrants aren’t just laborers or statistics. Some have led movements, brokered peace, and helped define justice in America.

And by telling McSween’s story, Cooper is placing Afro-Latinx identity exactly where it belongs — in the center of the civil rights narrative.

A South Carolina Legacy Comes Full Circle

Cooper’s recent appearance in Columbia marked more than a screening. It was symbolic. Just minutes from Benedict College, he presented a work that embodies the very mission HBCUs were built for — the elevation of truth, culture, and leadership rooted in service.

The film’s narrator and executive producer, two-time Grammy Award winner Ann Nesby, had just performed at the 11th Annual Women’s Empowerment South Carolina event — aligning artistry, activism, and Black excellence in the same cultural moment.

Benedict gave Cooper more than credentials. It gave him a lens. It taught him that storytelling is not just craft — it’s responsibility.

From the Diaspora, With Intention

Cooper isn’t only telling diaspora stories — he’s creating infrastructure to sustain them. He’s worked as North American Liaison for the Royal Film Commission of Jordan and advised on productions like Dune, Star Wars: Episode IX, and Aladdin. He’s built partnerships in Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Thailand, leveraging global film incentives and creating on-ramps for underrepresented stories.

But CIRILO is personal. It’s a shift from mega-franchises to memory work — a reminder that sometimes the most powerful stories are the ones we nearly forgot.

This isn’t a passion project. It’s a declaration.

Why This Film, Why This Filmmaker

CIRILO, A Legacy Untold is currently under consideration for the NAACP Image Awards, the Academy Awards, and the IDA Documentary Awards. It’s already screened at Cannes’ Diversity Showcase, the San Antonio Black International Film Festival, the Seattle Latino Film Festival, the Detroit Black Film Festival, and Columbia’s Freedom Festival International.

But Cooper isn’t chasing trophies. He’s chasing truth.

At a time when DEI is being dismantled, when Black and immigrant stories are increasingly under siege, and when cultural memory is under attack, Justin O. Cooper has done something both rare and necessary — he made a film that tells the story of someone America would rather forget.

And in doing so, he made history speak again.

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