The Freep Film Festival

I finally made it to my first Freep Film Festival. This annual Detroit event is presented by the Detroit Free Press and Michigan.com, and various theaters in Detroit and Royal Oak.

Unfortunately, I was only able to see one film because of my schedule and because a couple of films I wanted to see were sold out. However, I luckily had seen and reviewed two of the films before, Superior and Exported From Michigan.

Although most of the films have a Michigan connection, I wanted to see one that specifically focused on Michiganders, so I chose Accidental Activists. This film explores the journey of two women, Jayne and April DeBoer-Rowse, who tried to challenge Michigan's adoption laws so they could have equal parenting rights to their children. When U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Friedman told their attorneys that Michigan's adoption law wasn't the problem, they then found themselves challenging Michigan's same-sex marriage ban and ending up on the winning side of last year's U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage throughout the United States.

The film was directed by Mandi Wright of the Detroit Free Press, and she does an excellent job getting inside the everyday lives of the DeBoer-Rowses and the whirlwind of becoming unwitting but unwavering champions of a crusade that they initially had no intention of undertaking.

Following the film, Free Press columnist Brian Dickerson led a discussion with April and Jayne DeBoer-Rowse, their attorneys, Dana Nessel and Carole Stanyar, Judge Friedman, and Wright. The discussion shed light on the filming process and each panelist's feelings about the film and the lawsuit's path through the justice system.

The Detroit Institute of Arts hosted the film and helped make it a great experience. Next year, I hope to attend more than one screening at this fantastic festival.

For more information about Accidental Activists, click here.

For my previous reviews of Superior and Exported From Michigan, click here and here.

Superior: A Cinematic Journey Through the U.P.

Director Edd Benda's first feature film, Superior, opens in Calumet, Michigan, in 1969. With two weeks left in the summer, Charlie and Derek face certain futures. Charlie (Thatcher Robinson) will attend Michigan Tech University and study engineering, while Derek (Paul Stanko) will end up in Vietnam.

Although adulthood should be near, it is as far away and foreign as a distant shore. Charlie and Derek face a choice: They can stand still in their hometown awaiting their fates, or they can have one last adventure and determine their own destinies.

SUPERIOR - Official Teaser from Beyond the Porch on Vimeo.

Charlie and Derek choose the latter and embark on a 1,300-mile bike ride around Lake Superior with little more than a few dollars, sleeping bags, one copy of Jules Verne's The Adventures of Captain Hatteras, the shirts on their backs, and shorts that were not made for biking 5 miles.

Although the film is set in 1969, it, like any good period piece, depicts characters whose emotions and desires are timeless. Except for Vietnam casting its shadow over Derek's future, the relationship between Charlie and Derek could happen at any point in history. Like any longtime friends, they measure themselves against each other and challenge each other. They ultimately need to accept that, although close friends, they face different futures.

While traveling through Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Minnesota, and Canada, Charlie and Derek encounter a few interesting characters (including a few overly stereotypical Minnesotans). Although a funeral director and crazy recluse add comedy to the duo's adventure, the best moments in the film are when Charlie and Derek are alone on screen. Their dialogue uncovers their hopes and fears, and the friendship feels real through the film's unspoken moments, such as the creative way they share Verne's novel or goof off on a beach.

Although Superior is a coming-of-age story and a buddy film, it is also Benda's homage to the U.P. and the largest of the Great Lakes. Benda grew up in several places but spent a good amount of his childhood, including his high school years, in Michigan. He filmed the movie in the U.P.'s Keweenaw Peninsula, the northernmost part of the U.P. that juts into Lake Superior. The story is inspired by his Uncle Karl's own trip around Lake Superior with a friend in 1971. The bikes used in the film are the same ones that his uncle and his uncle's friend rode.

Superior's cinematography (courtesy of director of photography Alex Bell) captures the beauty of Lake Superior and the U.P. A scene of Charlie and Derek skipping rocks over the lake's crystal-clear waters will feel familiar to anyone who has stood on a Lake Superior beach and marveled at the vast expanse of water. When Charlie and Derek are riding quietly on tree-lined roads and paths, the magnificent silence of the U.P. comes to life. The land is populated by majestic trees. Civilization is absent, but wilderness abounds. It is the perfect place to escape from the world and to find oneself in the process.

Superior is a solid first film for Benda. It feels like the start of a great adventure, and here's to hoping Benda takes us along for the ride.

For more information about Superior and Benda and Bell's production company, Beyond the Porch Productions, visit superiorthemovie.com.

Q&A: Exported From Michigan's Jon Vander Pol

Exported From Michigan is a documentary about the people and businesses in Michigan who are making strides to bring the state's economy back. Michigan native Jon Vander Pol directed the film and agreed to discuss his documentary with me.

Jon Vander Pol at the World Solar Challenge in Darwin, Australia

Was there any one person who served as your inspiration to make Exported From Michigan?

I was inspired to respond to the Chrysler “Imported From Detroit” campaign to make a positive film showing authentic stories of real people and companies who are creating innovative solutions to these social and economic problems. It’s a positive film. It’s not anti-Chrysler, but it bugged me that Chrysler was trying to trick people into buying emotional stock in their company when there are so many other Michigan businesses worth celebrating. Exported From Michigan highlights the people and organizations who are proving themselves worthy of believing in for the long term.

Where did you come up with the funding for the documentary?

Financing an independent film is one of the hardest parts; even with me and most of the crew working for free it still isn't cheap to make a movie. I fund-raised continuously for three years to cover the production expenses. Through the help of 17 private investors, a successful kickstarter campaign and a very generous grant from MSHDA, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, we were able to complete the film.

What is your background as a filmmaker?

I’ve always been intrigued by the power of story to inspire people, especially in the documentary format. I got a degree in digital filmmaking from the Art Institute of Colorado in 2007 and after working as a crew member on other people’s projects for years, I set out to tell Michigan’s comeback story in a feature-length documentary in February of 2011. It took 3.5 years to finish the film, and it premiered at the Wealthy Theatre in Grand Rapids on June 28th of 2014.

Exported From Michigan: The Fall and Rise of the Great Lakes State

Exported From Michigan at the Wealthy Theatre in Grand Rapids

"There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still." -Franklin Roosevelt

Over a period of a few decades, Michigan's economy went from one of the country's strongest to one its most depressed. Michigan became complacent, stood still, and lost its innovative edge. After years of its industries drying up or moving jobs out of state, many people looked around and thought, "What happened and what do we do to fix this?"

Grand Rapids native Jon Vander Pol's documentary Exported From Michigan explores the many Michiganders who are answering these questions and creating new and innovative ways for Michigan's economy to move forward. The film does not cast blame but instead preaches hope through the stories of Michiganders from varied backgrounds who believe in the state's future.

Burn: A must-see movie

Photo courtesy of Burn

I generally despise calling something a "must-see movie" because the media and movie studios overuse the phrase and apply it to blockbuster action movies that no one really must see. However, sometimes a film comes along that everyone should see. Burn: One Year on the Frontlines of the Battle to Save Detroit is such a film. The documentary follows the lives of the firefighters of Engine Company 50 on Detroit's East Side.

The movie opens with firefighters huddled together outside the door of a burning brick house. Flames outline the door until one of the men pushes the door in with his axe, causing a fireball to explode outward from the home. As the camera focuses on the inferno inside the house, the company's Field Engine Operator Dave Parnell's voice utters, "I wish my head could forget what my eyes have seen in thirty-two years of firefighting." After watching this film, the audience will not forget what their eyes have seen.

For the next hour and twenty minutes, filmmakers Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez give their viewers an awe-inspiring perspective of the lives and struggles of Detroit firefighters. The action includes footage of firefighters entering the depths of houses with fire raging all around them and no idea what dangers lie ahead. The firefighters of Company 50 explain that Detroit firefighters fight the fire from the inside and that observers would be more likely to see them shooting water out of a house instead of the usual image of firefighters shooting water in.