When local people involved in various organizations working to improve Detroit saw a screening of "Detropia" earlier this year, most of them hated it, according to a report at the time in Curbed Detroit.
Curbed also reported award-wining directors Heidi Ewing, who grew up in Farmington Hills, and Rachel Grady were said to have gotten very defensive. The audience thought that the film was about "everything wrong with Detroit," to which they responded that they had wanted to tell the "phoenix rising" story of Detroit, but that this is what resulted from their efforts.
Whatever.
The market has spoken. The documentary on life in post-industrial Detroit has impressed viewers and critics and will get a national release, according to Julie Hinds in the Free Press.
"Detropia" will open Sept. 14 at Royal Oak's Main Art Theatre, Detroit's RenCen 4 and Ann Arbor's Michigan Theater.
It will open that same day in 20 other cities, including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco as well as Grand Rapids.
At the time of the screening, Deadline Detroit's Jeff Wattrick wrote about the controversy. Read his article here.
UPDATE: "Detropia" won a major award at the Indianapolis Film Festival this weekend. Click here.
