Grown in Detroit – Documentary Features Transformation of Teen Moms into Urban Farmers

Trailer ‘Grown in Detroit’ from Mascha Poppenk on Vimeo.

Grown in Detroit

by Dutch filmmakers Mascha and Manfred Poppenk
(Highly recommended film! Mike)

Imagine urban teens, pregnant, and farming a decaying city. They’re working, learning and planning for a better life for themselves and their babies. It’s not a movie script. It’s the subject of a new documentary, Grown in Detroit, by Dutch filmmakers Mascha and Manfred Poppenk.

While Detroit may have a reputation as one of the most impoverished and dangerous cities in the U.S., this award winning documentary exposes a different side; the side about residents who are emerging by using their resource and creating unique solutions.

“This isn’t the typical, negative Detroit story. It’s a powerful, uplifting story about rebirth of the city,” Said Mascha Poppenk, documentary filmmaker. “It focuses on the future by featuring the efforts of teens and their educators. The message they are teaching us applies to all in the world, not just the residents of Detroit”

Ironically, after the destruction of many abandoned homes, nature has taken over and the city. Detroit is literally greening from within. Satellite images speak for themselves; more than one third of the city has become green again, just as it was before the industrial era. This new landscape is creating opportunities and hope for the city and its residents. Land that was used for farming a century ago has again been cultivated, this time by the urban farmer, out of necessity and resourcefulness.

Grown in Detroit features urban gardening efforts organized by a public school of 300, mainly African American, pregnant and parenting teenagers. In Detroit alone, there are more than 3,000 pregnant teenagers who drop out of high school each year, nationwide more than 500,000.

The school featured in the documentary is one of only three located in America. As part of the curriculum, pregnant teens are taught agricultural skills at the farm next to the school. The young mothers, often still children themselves, are learning through farming to become more independent and knowledgeable about the importance of nutritious foods. Many of the teens initially dislike farm work but the aversion disappears as they see their crops growing and being sold for profit.

This “back to the roots” concept is a simple, yet effective solution for a city that has to start all over again and perhaps a lesson to be learned for the rest of the world.

Filmmakers Mascha and Manfred Poppenk

Website and Press Access to the Film

http://grownindetroit.filmmij.nl/

Online film preview for the press is available by e-mailing mail@filmmij.nl and requesting log in information.

Media Contact:
Mascha Poppenk
mascha@filmmij.nl

Acclaim for Grown in Detroit

“… As a documentary about hope, the tenacity of the human spirit, and the silver linings in even the darkest of clouds, the Poppenks’ tale of The Motor City and its less-privileged residents is excellent, stunningly shot and well-devised.”

James Goodall | CULT OF CINEMA

“…’grown in Detroit’: won best documentary in Austin– and deserved it. This film has a great pace and a amazingly hopeful, positive message, about a city that is going through some real shit.”

Liquorishspliz | AIN’T IT COOL NEWS

“…But when all is said and done, it is the unabashed realism of the faculty and staff of the Catherine Ferguson Academy for Young Women that convinces us of the integrity of their good intentions. The Poppenks have made a truly remarkable documentary about a story of real, honest-to-goodness hope in one of the most unlikely places.”

Paul Bower | TINY MIX TAPES

“…Lots of people want to make movies in Detroit…we’re a great backdrop for sci-fi thrillers (The Island) or dramas that need a gritty backdrop (Gran Torino). But not many filmmakers make movies ABOUT this notorious city. That is why Grown in Detroit, a documentary by two Dutch filmmakers, is so impressive.”

Karen Dybis | TIME MAGAZINE

“…The movie does a great job of showing how the experience of nature transforms the teenaged mothers at this amazing school. It also captures some of the strange, quiet romance of Detroit, where there seem to be more bicycles than cars because people are too poor to buy cars, where there are goats and haymaking in city neighborhoods, and lots of wonderful people stubbornly insisting that there is something very special and beautiful about any city–even the poorest city–that has the luxury of land for apples, peaches, and tomatoes.”

Michelle Owens | GARDEN RANT BLOG

“…Audience Buzz made it the highest rated, most scheduled and most visited film of the festival” & “… 4.8 stars out of 5”

B-Side | PLANET IN FOCUS FESTIVAL

Awards and Festivals

2009 Award for ‘Best Documentary’ Austin Film Festival | United States

2009 Award for ‘Best Documentary’ Formula Mundi Film Festival | Baden Wuerttemberg | Germany

2009 Special Jury Award for its social values Urban TV Festival | Madrid | Spain

2010 Official Selection Cinema on the Bayou | Lafayette, LA | United States

2009 Official Selection International Millenium Festival | Brussels | Belgium

2009 Official Selection New Kingston Film Festival | United States

2009 Official Selection 2009 Planet in Focus International Environmental Film & Video Festival | Toronto | Canada