'Grown in Detroit' Winner 'Best Documentary' Austin Film Festival

Documentary Features Transformation of Teen Moms and Farming in Detroit ‘Grown in Detroit’ screening at Austin Film Festival Wed, Oct 28, Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek DETROIT, Oct. 27, 2009—Imagine urban teens, pregnant, and farming a decaying city. They’re working, learning and planning for a better life. 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 a city through urban farming,” Said Mascha Poppenk, documentary filmmaker. “It features the efforts of teens and how they learn self-reliance through urban farming. ” 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 The Catherine Ferguson Academy, 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. The school featured in the documentary is one of 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. For more information and viewers’s reactions (blog) about Grown in Detroit, visit www.grownindetroit.tv Read what TIME MAGAZINE is saying about the film: http://detroit.blogs.time.com/2009/09/28/schools-organic-farm-inspires-film/ Note to press: Online film preview is available by e mailing mail@filmmij.nl and requesting log in information. Also join the conversation on the ‘Grown in Detroit Documentary’ Facebook page.