Hey, it’s Micah! Welcome back to Culture Canvas.
Hope you all are having a great week so far and are enjoying the sunshine.
Last week, I had a great conversation with filmmakers Mike Ambs and Greg Shewchuk, who operate Ann Arbor startup A2 Creative Labs. The two on Monday held the first screening for their short film, “Sure as the Wind” at Newlab in Corktown. The film follows Detroiter Darren Riley, co-founder of environmental tech company JustAir, and his team in their efforts to educate residents about air quality in Dearborn and Grand Rapids.
Ambs and Shewchuk felt inspired to create the documentary last summer when they attended the Michigan Innovation Summit at Newlab. They reached out to the Song Foundation, an organization that funds Black, brown, and immigrant-led and serving organizations in southeast Michigan. The foundation connected the filmmakers with JustAir.
The duo shot the film this past fall and winter and said production was “breezy.”
“The team was extremely open and they invited us in and they made it very easy,” Shewchuk said.
Shewchuk said he and Ambs wanted to capture how the environmental justice movement in Michigan has been in the making for more than 30 years and how grassroots organizations like JustAir are making progress.
“That’s really a big part of what we wanted to capture, to show the legacy and how these ideas are handed between people and how communities really work; how those ideas, challenges and solutions are carried on over generations,” he said.
Ambs and Shewchuk are planning to have “Sure as the Wind,” be the first in a series of films that show the entrepreneurial and artist communities in southeast Michigan under their organization Gather Around MI. They said they love the creative energy in Detroit and want the city to become a hub for film.
“The history of Motown and music and just everything about it…it’s a very fertile environment and it’s a real shame that more of it is not happening,” Shewchuk said. I think it’s only a matter of time.”
Come back to BridgeDetroit later today for the full story.
Cheers,
Micah
313 Scene
- Starz’s Detroit-set crime drama “BMF” returns for its third season Friday at 8 p.m. The show follows Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory and their journey into developing one of the biggest drug rings in the country.
- Pop singer Pink is adding a second Detroit show for her 2024 Summer Carnival tour. The concerts will be held Oct. 14 and 15 at Little Caesars Arena. Tickets for the second show go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday on Ticketmaster.
- Chick-fil-A is coming to Detroit! The popular fast food chain is opening a location in the First National Building this summer.
What’s Going on in the D?
- This week is your last chance to check out “Blues for an Alabama Sky” at the Detroit Public Theatre, which closes Sunday. Written by Detroit native Pearl Cleage, the play follows new roommates Angel, a recently fired blues singer, and Guy, a promising costume designer with Paris in his sights and their New York City apartment building during the Harlem Renaissance. Tickets are $47.
- The Redford Theatre is showing the director’s cut of the 1982 classic “Blade Runner,” starring Harrison Ford. The screening will include a raffle featuring “Blade Runner” memorabilia from Detroit Record Club, “Blade Runner” illustrated prints and pre-show beats in the lobby. Tickets are $12.
- The Mosaic Youth Theatre is debuting its new play, “Debating Destiny,” which is playing Friday and Saturday at the Senate Theatre. Tickets begin at $10.
- Motown star Martha Reeves is hosting a social mixer Monday at Saint John’s Resort in Plymouth. All proceeds from the event will benefit the singer’s Hollywood Walk of Fame reception. Tickets begin at $125.
