Detroit-area native Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady filmed Detropia with the hopes that the rest of the United States would recognize a bit of themselves in the Motor City \u2014 unemployment, the decline of manufacturing and municipalities, and the new industries and social movements rising from the rubble.<\/p>\n
Since they wrapped up the documentary, Detroit has endured even more strife. The city recently hired a bankruptcy lawyer because it was so badly managed.<\/p>\n
“The financial crisis that has made Detroit one of the largest cities ever to face mandatory state oversight was decades in the making, a trail of missteps, of trimming too little, too late, of hoping that deep-rooted structural problems would turn out to be cyclical downturns that might melt away as the economy picked up,” according to The New York Times<\/em>. What’s more, the city kept records on flash cards and had few visible policemen, even though the public safety department made up half the city’s budget.<\/p>\n Detroit continues to lose residents, though the declines were not as steep between 2011 and 2012 as in previous years. The population hovers just above 700,000.\u00a0Here’s what drove Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady to capture the essence of this dwindling Detroit:<\/p>\n What impact do you hope this film will have?<\/strong> What led you to make this film?<\/strong> What were some of the challenges you faced in making this film?<\/strong> How did you gain the trust of the subjects in your film?<\/strong> What would you have liked to include in your film that didn\u2019t make the cut?<\/strong> Tell us about a scene in the film that especially moved or resonated with you.<\/strong> What has the audience response been so far? Have the people featured in the film seen it, and if so, what did they think?<\/strong>
\nWe hope that the rest of America can see that they may have more in common with Detroit than they thought. Across the country municipalities are going bankrupt. Citizens are losing their jobs and are untrained for the new generation of jobs and industries that are replacing them. Collectively as a society we need to embrace that the old systems and model we based our economy on has radically changed.<\/p>\n
\nHeidi is from Detroit and from a manufacturing family so the place is near and dear to her. Rachel thought that Detroit was an excellent place to get an accurate gauge of the potential fate of our cities; where over 80% of Americans live.<\/p>\n
\nTelling the \u201cstory\u201d of a city, especially a place with such a rich and symbolic past, is a very esoteric idea to get one’s head around. The creative process was extremely challenging, but also gratifying.<\/p>\n
\nDetroiters are tough, but we focused on characters and a population who haven\u2019t had a lot of opportunity to be heard so, so they were more willing to take a risk on us.<\/p>\n
\nWe have over 90 minutes of \u201cDVD extras.\u201d There are hundreds of important stories in Detroit. One scene that we tried hard to include but ultimately couldn\u2019t was of a man named Butch driving around in a truck selling vegetables (when we were filming there was no national grocery store chain within the city of Detroit) that was very beautiful and soulful.<\/p>\n
\nWe filmed a young man named Chubb\u2019s who had had been recently ambushed in his own home by armed intruders. They had shot up the house and his 6-year old daughter had been home, terrifying her. The police never showed up. There are less then 1,500 cops protecting 700,000 people. It\u2019s citizens live in a lawless place. That is wrong in the richest country in the world.<\/p>\n
\nThe response has been wonderful. It is the right moment for this conversation. The people featured in the film have embraced it and are representing the film at various screenings.<\/p>\n