Third Thursday, November 2015 Meet the Filmmaker: Anthony Brogdon & Meet the Artist: Henry Heading
Anthony Brogdon, Filmmaker: The Great Detroit, It Was-It Is-It Will Be
Anthony Brogdon loves Detroit and his documentary shows it.
“The premise of the film is to examine Detroit from a positive perspective,” Brogdon says. “It’s our contention that Detroit gets talked about in terms of its decline in population, abandoned building and high crime but there’s another side to the story.
“We hope to display content on Detroit’s rich history and beautiful landscape with inspiring commentary and highlighting little known facts so people will see this beloved city in another light.”
Brogdon says the film stars people who are making it happen and includes 55 interviewees. It touches on how and why Detroit was founded, the influx of immigrants who make up the cultural mix, many Detroit-based companies that dominated their markets, the history of Motown as well as techno music, Eastern Market, Pewabic Pottery, the Parade company and so many others.
It also highlights Henry Ford’s first office and plant, Detroit’s puppet museum and theater, the second oldest church in America, where Motown recorded many of its hits, the training rink for many former boxing champs, the inside of a 100-year-old hat store, the Detroit River and the hydroplane races, a manmade island and much more.
There’s a segment on various neighborhoods like Indian Village where Bob Cosgrove talks about the many architects who designed homes in that district. It also looks at homes in Boston Edison and Palmer Woods as well as the growth in residential development in Midtown. It shows off Corktown, Detroit’s oldest neighborhood, and the multi-cultural identify that is Southwest Detroit.
Brogdon received the Angelo Henderson Community Service Award from ARISE Detroit! during its 9th annual Neighborhoods Day earlier this year. In 2012, he was named Person of the Week by WXYZ’s Detroit 2020 because his goal reflected the show’s – unify. inspire. act.
The Great Detroit, It Was-It Is-It Will Be was released in April 2014 and has been shown at various venues including the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Historical Museum, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Main Art Theatre, Senate Theater, Farmington Civic Theatre, Oakland University and various libraries in Ferndale, Hamtramck, Detroit and Dearborn. There are plans for showings at Wayne State University, Madonna College, and nationally in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Washington, DC., Brogdon says.
The DVD is available on Amazon and is 74 minute long. For a video clip or more information go to astrongdetroit.com
Henry Heading: Artist Extraordinaire
Henry Heading is an artist of immense talent. His paintings, in acrylic and oil, are impeccably rendered studies in realism. But what really sets Mr. Headings work apart is the framing of his work. He constructs intricately designed frames that are so creative that to call them frames seems almost an insult. You just have to see them to understand. Join us to hear Mr. Heading talk about his art and his life as an artist.
For Mr. Heading's bio, please go to http://www.detroitfiberworks.com/eventcalendar/2015/9/30/transendence-for-love-of-imagination
