‘United States Of Detroit’ Spotlights Leaders Who Refuse To Give Up

DETROIT, MI — Before he turned his camera on people like a Detroit pastor who works a night shift at a deli to keep his financially struggling church’s homeless mission program going, most of what California filmmaker Tylor Norwood knew about Detroit was a cliche. The Motor City was a symbol of either despair or hope, depending on the story line, Norwood said, but neither approach shed much light on the tireless work of community leaders who have refused to give up on their city.

Detroit Church of the Messiah Pastor Barry Rudolph is a central figure in Norwood’s documentary, “The United States of Detroit.” In the story of the power and necessity of community action, the people Norwood features have one thing in common: They’re all doing good works to raise up the community on a shoestring.

A special screening will be held Wednesday at Fisher Theatre.

A project about big-city bankruptcies — Detroit was the biggest city in America to ever go bust — brought Nowood to Motor City and opened his eyes about the perseverance of Detroit residents. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Detroit Patch, click here to find your local Michigan Patch. Also, like us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

“I knew very little about the city, and most of it was wrong,” Norwood told the Detroit Free Press. “Detroit has been used as a symbol by all sorts of a people to make very different points about where America was going. If you thought America was destined for a Roman-scale decline, there was Detroit, an aging skeleton of America’s greatest time. If you were looking for hope, there, too, was Detroit, bustling with the vibrant energy of community groups and young people from around the world drawn to the potential of creating the next iteration of the city.”

In “The United States of Detroit,” Norwood set out to find people like Rudolph, “people on the ground who had lived their whole lives in the city,” he told the Free Press. “I wanted to know what they wanted and what their stories were.”

During preproduction research, Norwood interviewed local reporters about newsmakers. “Pastor Barry’s name came up a lot,” he said. “And to find what he is doing on the east side with nearly nothing but a handful of volunteers and endless hope was nothing short of inspirational.”

Many of the success stories about Detroit’s recovery from its historic bankruptcy are centered around glitzy projects in Downtown and Midtown, but those projects don’t necessarily engage people who have lived in the city for 50 to 60 years, activists and residents told Norwood, according to a trailer for the movie.

The special screening at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Fisher Theatre, 3011 Grand Blvd., Detroit, will be followed by a question-and-answer period with the filmmakers and broadcast journalists Soledad O’Brian and Miles O’Brien, a native of Grosse Pointe. The cost is $10, with ticket proceeds benefitting Church of the Messiah programs,and tickets may be reserved online.

Screenshot via “The United States of Detroit” trailer on Vimeo