Downtown Detroit Events, News, Living

This fall, the Detroit Film Theatre will bring a season packed with new films, thought-provoking documentaries and restored classics. There will also be a multi-week celebration of Mexican cinema, noteworthy silent films to be accompanied by the Alloy Orchestra and a couple of horror flicks just in time for Halloween.

Kicking off the season is Steve James’ newest documentary, The Interrupters, showing Sept.16-18. Telling the story of three “Violence Interrupters” the film explores violence in America as the subjects try to protect communities from violence that they were once a part of. Focusing on the idea that the spread of violence mimics the spread of infectious diseases, the Interrupters are devoted to stopping the infection at its source.

Woven throughout the stretch of the fall season, the DFT has partnered up with the consulate of Mexico’s Cultural Affairs Department to present the Mexican Cinema series. Free admission to all films in the series coupled with a diverse selection of double features is sure to bring entertainment through the run of the series which is set to end Oct. 13.

The first features of the program will be presented Sept. 17 and spotlight Mexican director Emilio Fernández. The first film, La Perla, is a 1945 adaptation of John Steinbeck’s The Pearl and the second is Las Abandonadas from 1944.

Next is a Sept. 29 double feature highlighting Mexican wrestling hero, El Santo. Celebrated for brave face-offs with wolf women, mummies and wax statues, the features will show Detroit the greatness of a wrestler not played by Jack Black (cough, cough Nacho Libre) or Mickey Rourke.

Just a few of the other films in the series include Julio Bracho’s Ay Que Tiempos Señor Don Simón! and Distinto Amanecer; Doña Bárbera directed by Fernando de Fuentes; and Luis Buñuel’s Subida al Cielo and La Ilusion Viaja en Tranvia

While the Detroit Film Theatre makes sure to represent films from all over the world, on Oct. 11 the DFT shifts the focus closer to home with the third installment of Gary Hustwit’s trilogy, Urbanized. Analyzing the design of cities like Detroit in addition to the strategies that influence urban design, this documentary employs insight from some of the world’s most knowledgeable architects, planners and builders. After the show, Hustwit will dicuss the film with the audience. Urbanized will be featured in concurrence with the DIA photography exhibit, Detroit Revealed, opening Oct. 16.

Just a few days before Halloween, check out the freak-fest the DFT has got in store. First up, the 1959 French film, Eyes Without A Face. There’s a disfigured girl, a crazed scientist dad and skin grafting; the stuff  Billy Idol‘s bad dreams are made of.   Oh, and it’s playing Oct. 28. The next day (if you’re feeling like you haven’t been sufficiently disturbed) come and see the low-budget cult classic, Chano Urueta’s El Barón del Terror.

Eyes Without A Face

Fasten your seatbelts, film aficionados, this season at the DFT promises to be an all-terrain  adventure. For more information as well as a complete list of the season’s films at the Detroit Film Theatre, head to http://www.dia.org/detroitfilmtheatre/14/DFT.aspx.

Since 1977, Dally in the Alley has been one of the most celebrated events in the D and with some new additions and improvements, this year’s festival might just be the best one yet.

Beginning this Saturday at noon, Detroit’s Midtown neighborhood (between Forest and Hancock, and Second and Third) will be engulfed in all things Dally from musical acts to food vendors and more.

Last year's Dally

One of the biggest sources of excitement for this Saturday is the return of the Electronic music stage. Electro artists including Watsui, Gin & Tronic and Madis One will perform throughout the day while more than 30 other acts rock out on the Alley, Forest and Garden stages. The Dally’s blog provides free mp3s, bios and info on several of the 41 bands that are set to participate (and maybe now would be a good time to mention there were more than 180 submissions this year…woah).

Co-Director, Jenny Calhoun (along with Cass Higden), says that the Forest and Electronic stages will shut down around 10 p.m. to unite the focus toward the Alley stage, where Will Sessions is set to close out the night.

As far as making the Dally an environmentally-conscious affair, Recycle Here and Fourth Street Farm are already on it. This year all food vendors (we’ll get to those in a minute) will be required to use bio – degradable packaging materials that will be sorted by Fourth Street Farm members and recycled at Recycle Here.

“Just don’t litter; we live in a state where we should all be educated enough to know not to do that,” Calhoun says.

Arts and Crafts Station from 2010 Dally

There’s also room in the alley for kids to come dally. Face-painting, arts-and-crafts and a handful of  family-friendly activities will be offered throughout the afternoon.

Last but most definitely not least, make sure to come hungry as food vendors will include Mario’s, Turkey Tom, Kola’s Kitchen, Taste of Ethiopia, Oslo, Alinosi Ice Cream and Greengo’s.

The non-profit organization North Cass Community Union (NCCU) organizes the Dally every year in an effort to continue the celebration of this historic and beautiful neighborhood. Established in 1976, proceeds from the Dally in the Alley benefit the NCCU.

To keep updated with latest Dally news, head to www.dallyinthealley.com or become a Facebook fan at www.facebook.com/dallyinthealley.

All over the city, young creatives are transforming the streets into a canvas for colorful re-imagining and reinterpretation, making neighborhoods in the D living museums for all to enjoy. This weekend, Forward Arts offers participants a two-wheeled tour of artistic sites
across the city along with a new exhibit opening at Scripps Park in Woodbridge.

Hamtramck Disneyland

The ride, set to begin at 1pm, will take biking enthusiasts on a 12-mile public art tour throughout Detroit and Hamtramck. Stops at Disneyland Hamtramck, Heidelberg‘s Street Folk 2, several installations by Recycle Here! and Design 99 are all on the agenda. Afterwards, attendees will be treated to a performance piece by composer James Cornish and dancer Lisa Lamonte (set to take place three times throughout the day).

Heidelberg's "Street Folk 2"

While the exhibit at Scripps has been a work in progress for months, Forward Arts’ founder, Dominic Arellano, admits that a bike tour has also been an idea he’s always wanted to execute.
“It made sense that we tied the tour with the Scripps exhibit, it’s all about public art,” he says.

Forward Arts’ latest effort will emphasize the park as a gathering place for the community as well as a venue for public art. More than seven installations featuring the work of several local artists will be featured; two public art workshops and the work of students from Access Arts‘ education program headed by Louis Casinelli. Both Arellano and Casinelli understand that artists, projects and programs all need strong leadership and organizational infrastructureto succeed over the long term, Casinelli explains.

“It is an exercise in re-shaping perception about our roles as individuals and as a loose collective with relatively corresponding ideals.”

So if the exhibit and bike tour aren’t enough to get you to Scripps on Saturday , there will also be a clothing swap, fort-building and book-making workshops and a chance to grab lunch from The PinkFlaminGO! food truck.

Scripps Park

“Art can bring people together, even people who might not care about it seem to leave it alone; it’s kind of a common respect,” Arellano explains of Detroit’s public art. By bringing energy to Scripps for the event, Arellano hopes that the space can remain clean and
celebrated long after the exhibit is finished.
Forwards Arts has partnered up with Visual Arts and Education program Access Arts and Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corporation to make the exhibit possible. Sponsors for Art Ride include Criterium Detroit City, Bikes & Murder, VitaminWater, The Hub of Detroit, Inside Detroit, Downtown Ferndale Bike Shop and Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corporation.

To participate in the bike tour, Forward Arts is asking participants to donate at least $5 to $10. The exhibit is free of admission and open to the public; and if you can’t make it to Saturday’s opening, the exhibit will be up for two weeks.
For more information, head to…http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=145112332232774