Deadline Detroit | “Gradually, Then Suddenly,” a filmed account of Detroit’s bankruptcy, has limited additional screenings

The 2022 Freep Film Festival kicked off last night with its headline entry, “Gradually, Then Suddenly: Detroit Bankruptcy,” at the Detroit Film Theater.

Chad Livengood, editor of Crain’s Detroit Business interviewed in the film, writes in a column about it and the panel discussion that followed:

When Philadelphia filmmaker Sam Katz set out to produce a documentary about Detroit’s historic bankruptcy about seven years ago, he thought he’d sell it to one of the streaming video giants like Netflix or Hulu and would move on.

But as he delved into the story of why Detroit filed for bankruptcy on July 18, 2013, the former city finance adviser realized there was a bigger story to tell an audience. smallest number of decision-makers:

Your city could be next.

This, writes Livengood, is the main conclusion of Detroit’s epic battle against financial insolvency, which ended in 2014 after the signing of the so-called Grand Bargain, preserving the Detroit Institute of Arts’ collection in exchange for 816 millions of dollars from foundations, private donors and taxpayers. Many American cities could find themselves in the same situation as Detroit

Not every city has such a valuable currency, which doesn’t make Detroit a role model so much as a really interesting case for a feature-length documentary.

If you missed the sold-out screening, try to catch it later at two commercial theaters:

A series of free screenings of “Gradually, Then Suddenly” are scheduled for Southeast Michigan over the next week, including public performances Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at the Maple Theater in Bloomfield Township (RSVP to ruth@themapleheater.com for tickets) and at 7:30 p.m. on May 4 at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor.

After that, Katz plans to pitch the film to civic organizations, chambers of commerce, other state legislators, and graduate schools of law, public policy, urban affairs, and journalism to showcase the disappearance documentary. Detroit tax in the face of current and future decisions. -manufacturers.

A stop at Netflix or Hulu would be nice too.