A pair of siblings dedicated to curating their Detroit father’s extensive Black film collection are about to launch a new viewing opportunity with Michigan Central.

Ali Wheeler and his sister Alima Wheeler Trapp are co-founders of film collective The Black Canon and its nonprofit arm, The Black Canon Collection, a charitable and educational platform with the goal of curating, preserving and archiving the collection left behind by their father James Wheeler. The Detroiter owned more than 40,000 pieces of Black media, including films, records, posters, books and more. James Wheeler died in 2019 and his children have been carrying on his legacy. 

The Black Canon, Michigan Central and film preservation organization Motor City Cinema Society are teaming up to host “Black Film in Focus: Selections from Black Canon and Motor City Cinema,” from 2-5 p.m. Saturday at Newlab. The screening will include rare film and TV clips from James Wheeler’s collection, such as the 1971 concert film, “Jimi (Hendrix) Plays Berkeley,” and the 1974 animated short, “The Legend of John Henry” featuring music from Roberta Flack, who died in February. In addition, there will be clips shown from 1960s and 1970s TV shows “Julia,” “I Spy,” “Shaft,” and “Room 222.” Tickets are $15. 

The event is similar to a screening The Black Canon and Motor City Cinema held in February for Black History Month. 

As a projector rolled in the darkened room inside Motor City Cinema’s The Screening Room, the siblings showed rare, Black media on 16mm film to a small audience for the sold-out event, “16mm Treasures from the Black Canon.”

For Wheeler and his sister, the event at Michigan Central will provide a prominent stage.

“We’re trying to build up on that success,” Wheeler said about February’s event. “We got such a great response that we want to get more people to see these shorts.” 

The magic of showing film on film 

To curate both programs, the Wheelers brought in Motor City Cinema co-founder John Monaghan, who was also a friend of their father’s. Monaghan said he and James Wheeler met about 30 years ago through the film collecting scene. 

“I was working at the time for the Detroit Free Press, so I was getting some press kits for movies that were Black-related so I would send them his way,” he said. “And then we would attend this annual convention in Columbus (the Columbus Moving Picture Show, formerly Cinevent). It’s over Memorial Day weekend and it’s a place for film collectors to assemble and buy and sell stuff.” 

After James Wheeler’s death, his children moved his media collection into a large warehouse. About a year ago, Monaghan volunteered to help sort and archive the film collection, which includes at least 5,000 titles. In the process, he pulled out several films and TV show reels that were part of February’s screening. The lineup is mostly the same for Saturday’s event with a few new clips, Monaghan said. 

When deciding on what to showcase from the massive collection, Monaghan focused only on 16mm films and broke the screening down into sections. Motor City Cinema co-founder Nick Pobutsky will be the projectionist for the event. 

“What I wanted to do with the program was put it into sections, like have a musical section and have a section that involved documentary-type footage, whether it was Black pride in the 1960s or whether it was Joe Louis fight footage from the 40s,” he said. “And then, I wanted to have a section that was about Black representation on television, because so many strides were made in the 60s and early 70s.”

Monaghan and the Wheelers will also show clips from the 1971 documentary, “Black Music in America: From Then till Now,” which features performances from Nina Simone, B.B. King and Sly Stone, who died Monday after a prolonged battle with COPD and other underlying health issues. 

Monaghan said seeing a movie on film is the equivalent of seeing an original painting as compared to a picture of it. 

“It’s an aesthetic thing and it’s also really special,” he said. “I mean, there’s the sound of the projector that I like and there’s imperfections too in film that I find really delightful. When you run a digital copy of something, it always looks exactly the same.” 

Wheeler and Wheeler Trapp saw many of the film and TV reels for the first time at the February event. Wheeler Trapp said she was pleased with how Monaghan showcased clips from the big and small screen. 

“One of the things our dad was most proud of is the richness and the variety that he had and the volume of things that are in the collection,” she said. “It (the program) parallels that really nicely, that you see dimension to the collection. For us, it’s fascinating. Seeing things from almost 100 years ago, it really underscores the importance of us being shepherds and protecting this history.” 

Wheeler said the screenings are a fun way to introduce people to The Black Canon and Motor City Cinema and he wants to host more events in the future. 

“The idea is, you see all of these different things, so it gets your mind wondering, ‘What else do we have?’ We can do many more similar screenings in the future, but this gives people a good idea what The Black Canon and Motor City Cinema Society are about.” 

With Juneteenth coming up and the Trump administration’s attempts to erase Black history, Wheeler said showing the reels is more important than ever. 

“There’s a lot of things that are going on right now where some items are not being shown to the public, or accomplishments are being pushed down or not necessarily celebrated as they should,” he said. “So, to show that we have this richness and variety of things that we’re doing, I take pride personally in showing these types of films.” 

Wheeler Trapp also feels pride in The Black Canon has been able to accomplish in the six years they’ve been established. 

“It’s good to think back to where our father started and now we’re shifting into this new chapter of The Black Canon,” she said. “To see those similarities, I think it’s cool that we’re following in his steps but putting our own unique spin on it.”