Inspired by Chris Ivey’s work here in Pittsburgh, Jacob David and Joel Washing’s work in Toledo, and Sultan Sharrief’s work in Detroit, it seems clear to me that GLUE needs to amass information about all the independent filmmakers choosing to do their work here in the Great Lakes region rather than in NYC or LA. If you are a film maker in a GLUE city and have a work premiering this Spring or Summer, let us know!
We will do our best to compile a comprehensive list and directory for GLUEspace.
In the meantime, do you want to SCREEN a Great Lakes-produced film in your hometown? We’ll do our best to hook you up with the right people. Leave a comment here or email glueteam@gluespace.org.
From Writer, Director, and GLUE-er Sultan Sharrief… “Bilal’s Stand” tells the story of an inner-city high school student who works at his family’s long-owned taxi stand. ‘The Stand ‘ has been the source of all money and activity for the family for sixty years, and it looks like Bilal is about to carry the torch. But after secretly getting accepted to the University of Michigan, and taking up ice sculpting in order to win a scholarship, Bilal is forced to decide whether he’ll continue to work at the family business, or if he’ll take a chance at social mobility. The film addresses issue familiar to many inner-city youth such as peer pressure, unequal education, race, class, religion, and the notion of “selling out”.
This is the 2nd feature film from producer/director Sultan Sharrief. The first, “The Spiral Project,” was nominated for a 2006 MTV Movie Award. It was one of five finalists of over 500 entries. He hopes “Bilal’s Stand,” his writing/directing debut, will do as well.
The film was produced as the pilot film for the Student EFEX (Encouraging the Filmmaking Experience) Program, a new community film project and course created by University of Michigan students, faculty, and staff in collaboration with Beyond Blue Productions.
The film debuts April 3rd at 7:00p.m. at the Michigan Theater after an introductory remarks by writer/director Sultan Sharrief and Professor Terri Sarris, the film’s producer. Tickets will go on sale at the Michigan Theater box office at 6 PM on April 3rd. Tickets are $6.00 for students and $8.00 for general public.
For more information, go to http://www.bilalsstand.com/. To watch behind the scenes footage, go to www.studentefex.net. EFEX combines filmmaking with service learning and community engagement, and serves as a new model for interaction between academic units and their surrounding artistic communities.
Sponsored by the UM National Center for Institutional Diversity, Screen Arts and Cultures Department, Office of Academic and Multicultural Initiatives, Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs Council, Michigan Student Assembly Minority Affairs Commission & FOKUS
On Tuesday, the Detroit Free Press published an Op-ed by GLUE friends John Austin and Bruce Katz of The Brookings Institution arguing that a change in federal policies could have a real and lasting benefit to Detroit and Michigan. But their assessment is by no means limited to one state.
All of the things Detroit and southeast Michigan are trying to do — largely unaided — to transform the regional economy could be significantly helped by a federal government that was a partner, not a delinquint.
Check out the examples they give, ranging from transportation policy to next generation energy investments to Great Lakes restoration — and others. In addition to having partners in other GL cities and states, we should have a partner in the federal government — which will only happen if we demand it of our next president.
The following email helpfully reminded us how important it is to be original when we contact the press. The sample letter we provided in our toolkit is only a sample. Thanks, Sonya! May all Great Lakes city newspaper staff be so responsive!
From Sonya’s comment:
We letter editors tend to pass over obvious letter-writing campaigns that are pure or even primarily form letters. There’s nothing wrong with a letter-writing campaign, but letters are more likely to get attention (and publication) if writers use their own words and arguments.
Smart, succinct letters, especially if they include some humor or a great analogy, are always a good bet.
In the interest of making resources available to any and everyone who wants to revitalize our cities, we’ve created a mega-region-wide list for your use in our toolkit.
Who: Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator X
What: A Presidential debate focused on the unique issues facing America’s Great Lakes region: water, population decline in urban centers, making an imperfect (at best) transition from sole economic reliance on heavy industry, and more.
Not so fast... As much as we wish this was an official announcement, it is not. The GLUE team is interested in hearing from our team mates, friends, and site visitors about this new idea.
A regionally-focused debate would set the nation’s eyes on the natural resources, struggling economies, and cities in flux of the states surrounding 20% of the world’s fresh water (well, at least the American side), and that at one time produced the majority of the world’s wealth. Oh, and did we mention they are swing states?
Quick facts about the Presidential debates thus far…
Debates total: 45
Democratic debates: 24
Republican debates: 21
Debates in GLUE cities: 8 (Cleveland, OH, Detroit, MI, Des Moines IA, and Chicago, IL)
Debates in GLUE states: 11 (Dearborn, MI and Sioux City, IA are not currently targeted by the GLUE network)
Making it happen…
All our candidates know that the support of this region is critical to victory in November. The region should hear from both the Democratic and Republican nominees about issues uniquely impacting these states.
GLUE friend Hugh McMullen, of Valerie Denney Communications in Chicago, sent us the below message regarding a not-to-be-overlooked event that, while in DC, is close to the Great Lakes heart. Hugh is going to be producing live reports on the events of Great Lakes Day, which you can check out at a blog created just for the occasion. From Hugh:
Great Lakes Day in Washington is when folks from all over the region go to DC and lobby their representatives to support Great Lakes Restoration efforts. This year GL Day is Thursday, February 28, although people are already in DC meeting and gearing up. We thought we’d use the event this year to spread the word online about Great Lakes Restoration and how people in the region can help out. We’ll be hearing from campaign leaders about legislative efforts, reports and new findings, and what people in specific cities and areas are doing for the cause. We’ll also be covering a report from Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative that examines how much local governments are spending to clean up the Lakes versus how much the federal government is spending.
We hope to generate materials you can use to talk about the issue and helpful information from leaders about getting the word out politically.
So check out the blog, grab our RSS feed, check out our YouTube page, and check back here throughout the next few days. Also leave some comments and let us know what you’d like to hear about. Thanks!
We’ve gone ahead and grabbed that RSS feed, and will feature it in our sidebar so long as they keep posting. Enjoy!
Check out today’s New York Times editorial page for an impassioned, spot-on appeal for an urban agenda in the Presidential election: “The cities have been the hardest hit as federal policies have failed or gone missing in education, housing, health care, jobs, transportation and environment, to name a few. Yet urban issues have gotten scant attention in this campaign.”
