Birmingham Native's Indie Film 'Superior' Based on True Story

“Superior” is a coming-of-age story based on the real-life story of cousins Karl Benda and Dan “Dudza” Junttila. (Screenshot via YouTube)

Birmingham native Edd Benda’s debut feature film, “Superior,” an independent, coming-of-age story, will be shown in several theaters on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where it was filmed, and Lower Michigan over the next two months.

Benda, a graduate student studying film at the University of Southern California, told WWJ/CBS Detroit the film is based on a story his uncle told him about a 1,300 mile bike trip he and a cousin took along the Lake Superior shores 40 years ago.

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The Vietnam War was raging and Karl Benda and Dan “Dudza” Junttila and other recent high school graduates were steeling themselves for the draft. One of the characters, who are played by Paul Stanko and Thatcher Robinson, was about to head to Michigan Technological University in Houghton, and the other was about to go to war.

According to a synopsis on the film’s IMDb page, the two cousins “embark on a 1,300 mile bike trip around Lake Superior to escape the pressure of their future, but the two cousins that left the Keweenaw as boys must overcome the wilderness and uncertainty on their journey as men.”

“The movie speaks volumes to not only the generation who grew up and lived back in the ’60s and ’70s but a lot of young adults kind of at a crux of decisionmaking in their lives, which is … a central theme in the film,” Benda told WWJ.

The movie was filmed over 21 days on the Keweenaw peninsula, predominantly in the Calumet area, but also as far north as Copper Harbor and as far south to Houghton and Hancock.

Local showings include one planned for Nov. 9 at The Maple Theater, 4135 W Maple Road, Bloomfield Township. A question-and-answer session with Brenda will take place after the film.

Here’s an official trailer.