Detroit filmmakers tackle city’s 50-year-old nightmare

Emmy Award-winning Big City Films today announced the “Summer ‘67” documentary series that will examine an urban uprising that changed the course of Detroit.

In development for the past year, “Summer ‘67” will feature original research and interviews to be showcased in a three-part 2017 film, with the centerpiece exploring stories of 43 people left dead during four days of violence in neighborhoods around Detroit’s 12th Street.

“We see news footage of tanks and burning buildings year after year on July 23,” says Bruce Harper, Big City Films director and CEO. “Our series takes a deeper look at the underlying origins and long-range outcome of a true American tragedy.”

Walt Douglas, Avis Ford dealer, long-time Detroit business owner and champion of economic equality, was a recent transplant from Washington D.C. in July 1967. Douglas recalls urban rebellions in major communities around the country in the months leading to the eruption on 12th Street.

“Many people thought it wasn’t going to happen in Detroit, but, of course, it did,” recalls Douglas, a “Summer ‘67” advisory board member.

After the uprising devastated neighborhoods that still bear its wounds decades later, Douglas resigned from the IRS, became vice president of New Detroit, and later president of the non-profit organization.

“An unfettered storytelling of the history and an objective telling of the history is needed,” Douglas says. “And I believe Big City Films is the team to do it.”

Partners in the effort, which includes a public engagement component, include UAW-Ford and PBS Channel 56.

“In marking the 50th anniversary of the Detroit riots, it is essential to thoroughly examine this seminal moment in history,” says Channel 56 consultant and former vice president Jeff Forster. “It is a story we believe our viewers will find critical to view.”

Big City Films is securing additional sponsors to begin filming this fall, says Harper. For additional information, please visit bigcityfilms.com or e-mail info@bigcityfilms.com.
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