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For Further
Information Contact: Festival Coordinators Joel Silvers &
KristineTrever
(313)
965-8189; joelsilvers-detroit@msn.com
Wayne
State
hosts a celebration of
Detroit
film and media art
May 17th through 21st, 2005
This
year’s annual
Wayne
State
University
Film and Media Arts festival, MovingMedia, has widened its
scope and expanded into a five-day event with the theme “The Myth of
Detroit.”
In addition to an evening showcasing the best film and video works
produced by WSU students, this year’s greatly expanded festival will
also feature screenings, guest filmmakers and panel discussions
focusing on a wide range of films either made in or about the city
of Detroit.
While
there is no doubt that this particular city has long engaged the
imaginations of its talented local artists, writers, photographers
and filmmakers, there is only an emerging appreciation of how the
city has achieved the special status of a “mythic space” within our
national culture. This year’s MovingMedia festival will
therefore explore the representation of
Detroit
in terms of our society’s “core cultural myths” through a series of
events that include screenings of rarely seen films, guest speakers
and forums composed of filmmakers. artists, scholars and community
activists,
Among the
highlights of this year’s festival will be opening night screenings
of two classic films about Detroit
Finally Got the News and Poletown Lives! -- as well as
the thought-provoking recent film Detroit: Ruin of a City.
This event will be followed by an open forum that will include
filmmaker Rene Lichtman, activist
–
filmmaker George Corsetti, writer - scholar Jerry Herron, artist -
web designer Lowell Boileau, Detroit City Councilmember Sheila
Cockrel and others.
Wednesday
night screenings will feature a rich array of films about Detroit
made by independent filmmakers–
including the recently acclaimed film about the 1960s Detroit civil
rights martyr Viola Liuzzo Home of the Brave, Still the
Champ about Joe Louis, It’s in the Constitution!
about the late civil rights pioneer George Crockett and Taking
Back Detroit. The theme for Thursday night screenings will be
Detroit’s
legendary music scene. Among the highlights of this evening will be
20 to Life, a recent film about John Sinclair, the founder of
the Detroit Artists Workshop in the 1960s, as well as the winners of
this year’s Detroit Music Video Awards.
Friday
night events will focus on the city’s unique multi-ethnic cultural
life and celebrate the accomplishments of women filmmakers in the
Detroit
area. The filmmakers will be present at this rare showcase of their
work, and
Detroit
performance artist Sue-Carman-Vian will premiere her latest work
Candy Store.
The
festival will culminate on May 21 with a Michael Moore
“retrospective” in the afternoon and then a gala showcase and awards
ceremony honoring
Wayne
State
University
student productions in Shaver Recital Hall beginning at
6 p.m.
The special guest of honor at this event will be Academy Award
winner Sue Marx.
All
screenings and events occur at Wayne
State
University,
and are free and open to the public. MovingMedia is funded,
in part, by the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts,
the Wayne State University Department of Communication, the Public
Benefit Corporation and the Detroit Film Center.
We
encourage the public to attend this rare five-day event celebrating
local film artists and exploring “the myth of Detroit.”
Please
see the calendar of events below for schedule details and a list of
our features, times and locations. For updates and a complete
schedule, please check the festival website:
www.comm.wayne.edu/movingmedia
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