A new documentary focuses on two cities: Detroit, Michigan and Lodz, Poland.
“After the Factory” looks at how the two cities are trying to reinvent themselves in a post-industrial age.
Philip Lauri is the film’s director. He says cities around the world are struggling to answer the question: What happens after industrialization and manufacturing leaves?
Like Detroit, Lodz was once an industrial giant; auto industry for Detroit, textile manufacturing for Lodz. But now, both cities are struggling with shrinking populations and high unemployment.
To that end, Lauri says his film shows real examples of how residents are trying to move their cities forward:
"It puts some global context around the idea, that if we get this right, we stand to be global innovators in the sense that we could write the rule book for the cities that have fallen and will fall in the future."
“After the Factory” premieres at 7 pm on Feb. 2 at the Detroit Film Theatre inside the Detroit Institute of Arts.
It then goes to Europe for a series of screenings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSpel1mCAlM