Filmmaker finds bounty of inspiration
in Detroit's decay and evolution

There’s a lot of ugly in Detroit. The demolition of both historic structures and residential homes has left abandonment throughout the city. The transition from prospering industrial power to what many are now calling an “urban prairie” leaves some in disgust, while others find beauty in the city’s converted landscape.

Nicole MacDonald, a 30-year-old filmmaker and artist from Grosse Pointe Park, is in the latter group, fascinated by Detroit and its present-day terrain. Instead of seeing the ugly, MacDonald uses a camera to capture Detroit’s allure and possibilities. Her film, “A City to Yourself,” won the Detroit Make It Here Award for Best Michigan Filmmaker at the 47th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival this year. It will be among those screened at the Ewald branch of the Grosse Pointe Public Library, as part of the festival's tour, on Wednesday (Nov. 18).

“Everyone knows about the crumbling infrastructure of a post-industrial, shrinking city like Detroit, with abandoned neighborhoods and burnt-down homes, rampant poverty and continuing crime,” said MacDonald. “But there is another side to it.

“Increased space for outdoor art, for example. Wildlife and green space, for another. Less traffic and little gridlock. A kind of rural tranquility in an urban setting. Detroit is now something of an escape from the congestion and pollution of the surrounding suburbs.”

MacDonald studied film in both high school and college. After graduation, she got involved with the Detroit Film Center, volunteering and taking classes. She was director of the DFC from 2006-2009 and still remains active at the non-profit media arts center.

“A City to Yourself” was filmed from 2005 to late 2008. While working on the film, MacDonald was inspired by contemporary writer Rebecca Solnit, who wrote an essay on Detroit in Harper’s magazine in 2007.

“While she discussed the city’s very real tragedies, she praised the city in ways not often heard, finding beauty in things we typically don’t think of as beautiful,” said MacDonald.

Some Detroit enthusiasts are outsiders looking in, appreciating the hidden beauty from afar and not having to live with its ups and down. While Macdonald lived in Grosse Pointe Park through her high school years, she grew up on the east side of Detroit in a two-story flat.

“To be honest, I feel more like a visitor to a well-to-do suburb than someone from a well-to-do suburb,” said MacDonald. “Actually, living in both cities at different times in different parts of the city, it does feel quite funny. The economic split is sometimes startling, unnerving and feels unfair.”

MacDonald, like many others, has high hopes for Detroit’s future. She hopes for a continuation of some of the positives that can come from a declining population.

“The urban gardening movement has gotten a lot of attention recently,” said MacDonald. “I see that as a real plus – local, organic food in a so-called “food desert.” And then the contribution artists and visionaries on a shoe-string budget can make as well, when houses and land become cheap enough, like we are seeing on the east side with Design 99 Gallery folks and the Yes Farm. There are so many groups trying to reinvent their neighborhood along non-traditional (non-capitalist) lines.”

She’s also intrigued by the ideas of urban planners such as Robin Boyle, head of the urban economic development department at Wayne State University.

“I am very interested in his ideas of closing down less-viable aspects of the city and strengthening areas that are working and populated,” said MacDonald.

“A City to Yourself” also won the John Michaels Award at the 31st Big Muddy Film Festival in Carbondale, Ill. as well as Best Documentary at the 42nd Humboldt Film Festival in Arcata, Calif.

MacDonald tries not to think too far ahead, but plans to continue her work in film.

“I have a lot of documentaries related to Detroit that I would like to see made – if not by me, someone else.” 

Screenings start at 7 p.m. Admission is free but seating is limited.

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