Another metaphor for Detroit, the America story, has been made by filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, and produced by Craig Alkinson. This documentary appears on the New York Times homepage today.

The subject is how men are making money from the scrap metal business in Detroit, specifically a few guys who the directors spotted compiling salvage at an old Cadillac repair shop.

The filmmakers will premiere the full-length feature “Detropia” at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, according to Curbed. The question is how will this film measure up in the growing genre of Detroit “ruin porn?” We’re anxious to review the film.

Here’s the synopsis from Loki Films:

Detroit’s story has encapsulated the iconic narrative of America over the last century— the Great Migration of African Americans escaping Jim Crow; the rise of manufacturing and the middle class; the love affair with automobiles; the flowering of the American dream; and now . . . the collapse of the economy and the fading American mythos. With its vivid, painterly palette and haunting score, DETROPIA sculpts a dreamlike collage of a grand city teetering on the brink of dissolution. As houses are demolished by the thousands, automobile-company wages plummet, institutions crumble, and tourists gawk at the “charming decay,” the film’s vibrant, gutsy characters glow and erupt like flames from the ashes. These soulful pragmatists and stalwart philosophers strive to make ends meet and make sense of it all, refusing to abandon hope or resistance. Their grit and pluck embody the spirit of the Motor City as it struggles to survive postindustrial America and begins to envision a radically different future. – by Caroline Libresco

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