Michigan transplants, especially from Detroit, should find the eclectic collection of a dozen made by Detroit filmmakers about their city over the past decade, to be nostalgic, daring, funny and painful.
“Dearest Chicago, Please Love Me! Yours Truly, Detroit” is a mini-film fest screening Saturday, Aug. 23 at the micro-cinema Nightingale Theatre in Noble Square, home of more than 200 such presentations a year.
Detroit filmmaker and Corktown Cinema programmer Brandon Walley assembled the films and will host the program. He’s also the regional programmer for Media City International Film Festival in Windsor, Ontario. His films have showcased at festivals and art exhibitions internationally.
The films were produced between 2004 and 2013 and run in length from 2.5 minutes to 83 minutes. Three are long form. They were originally captured on unslit 8mm, Super 8 and 16mm and transferred to video, and some are the original videos.
The films are organized in three thematic programs:
Program 1: “We Hope for Better Things,” 6 p.m.: Chicago Detroit Split, Thomas Comerford and Bill Brown and I Pity the Fool, Brent Coughenour;
Program 2: “Laugh to Keep from Crying,” 8 p.m.: Detroit Branded, Oren Goldenberg and Jonathan Rajewski; Robocop was Filmed Mostly in Detroit, David Gazdowicz;
Detroit (Blank) City, Ep. 1: Detroit Pop-Up City, Detroit (Blank) City, Ep. 2: Detroit Diamond City, Emergency Detroit, Goldenberg and Ari Rubin;
Invisible City, Jack Cronin; The Smell of Mommy’s Honey Muffins, Brandon Walley; City without a Past, Nicole Macdonald.
Program 3: “Paris of the Midwest,” 10 p.m. Vacancy, Brandon Walley and I Have always been a Dreamer, Sabine Gruffat.
Non-profit Nightingale, 1084 N. Milwaukee, was founded in 2008 by Christy LeMaster, who has programmed for Chicago Filmmakers Onion City CUFF and several other major festivals and film societies. She works with a prestigious group of programmers, who are also curators, artists and teachers, in planning Nightingale programs.
Last year the theatre successfully raised $6,500 in Kickstarter funds to upgrade its equipment essentials. The Reader named The Nightingale “the best alternative film venue” in 2010.
Tickets are $5 per program, $10 for all three.
