Directed by Stephen Lighthill • Documentary • 1980 • 55 minutes
In the 1970s and early 1980s Detroit was the setting for an unusual development in U.S. urban politics, as voters elected two socialists to citywide office. TAKING BACK DETROIT examines these people and their organization against the backdrop of a city in extreme economic crisis.
The film profiles City Council member Ken Cockrel and Recorders Court Judge Justin Ravitz. They discuss the challenges they face, and the vision they bring to their work.
Cockrel and Ravitz and their political organization, DARE, opposed the accepted agenda for Detroit - tax abatements for industry, federal money for developers, cuts in city services, abandonment of older neighborhoods. They emphasize that the city could be made to serve its residents first - though not surprisingly the film shows that promoting this idea was no simple task.
Up Next in New: Documentaries
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Freeports - The Beauty of Tax Free St...
Directed by Martin Gronemeyer • Documentary • 2021 • 52 minutes
There is a global network of tax-free storage facilities for valuable goods, catering to the super rich – and it's virtually unknown, until now. Freeports feature the highest security levels and confidential record keeping. And thro...
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Fang
Directed by Susan Vogel • Documentary • 2001 • 8 minutes
FANG mixes documentary and fiction techniques to recount an African art object's journey through a century of peril and adventure, and uses the film styles of each historical period to tell its story - a whole century of Western attitudes ...
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Canuto’s Transformation
Directed by Ariel Kuaray Ortega, Ernesto de Carvalho • Documentary • 2023 • 130 minutes
In a Mbyá-Guarani community straddling the Brazil-Argentina border, the legend of Canuto—a man believed to have transformed into a jaguar before his tragic death—remains vivid. Filmmakers Ariel Kuaray Ortega ...
