Film Fest hopefuls muscle in with A Detroit Thing

What do you do when you submit your film to a film festival and it doesn’t get accepted? Find another venue in the same town to introduce the film while the film festival is going on. That’s exactly what the Brancaleone brothers are doing. They are introducing a “rough cut” of their documentary, “A Detroit Thing,” this weekend (Aug. 2-4) at the Inside Out Gallery on Friday and Union Street Station on Saturday.
“Well, that isn’t exactly how it happened,” said producer/director Anthony Brancaleone. “One of our major investors is from Traverse City and he suggested that we try to get the film into the Traverse City Film Festival, but they don’t take submissions. We were still able to get the film considered by Michael Moore because our investor is also a major donor at the film festival, but were told they were not going to a Michigan filmmaker series this year. Before all of this had happened, I had been in touch with Mike Curths at the Inside Out Gallery and booked his place to show the film.”
The film “A Detroit Thing” takes the audience through real-life challenges of Detroit bands as they gig and claw their way to the top of the local rock scene. It follows the parallel lives of such musicians as Kid Rock and Tino (Howlin Diablos), but Brancaleone -- who developed the film project with his brother Nick -- said it is not a biographical sketch of the musicians.
“We are not profiling artists in this film. It is a documentary, but the focus is not about the individual artist -- it is about the scene,” said Brancaleone. “It is about painting a picture of what these artists go through to try and make it.”

NIGHT OF THE DIABLOS
Brancaleone said the idea came to him 12 years ago, out of the blue.
“I walked down to this dive of a place in my neighborhood. It was called the Bear’s Den and the Howlin Diablos were playing. As people were out dancing to this two-song melody ‘Junkyard Jesus’ and “Go Jean Go,” it hit me, he said. “I thought to myself, ‘How cool is this -- what if some of my friends were here from Rome watching this? They would be blown away.’ It was surreal seeing this fabulous talent in this dive. After the concert I went up to the band and said I wanted to film them and would be back the next night.”
Brancaleone did return, along with his brother Nick, and filmed the Howlin Diablos, making a 40-minute “home movie” for the band. Before they knew it, other Detroit area bands were asking them to make movies too.
“The problem was, not one of these bands had any money to pay us, and it was getting old filming them for free,” said Brancaleone. “I started thinking that it would be a good idea to make a movie and find someone else to pay for the filming, so I asked the bands if I could film them for future use in a film about the Detroit music scene.”
One of those bands he filmed was Kid Rock.
“He liked what we did for the Diablos and asked us to do the same for him. No one knew who he was in those days,” said Brancaleone. “Once he made it big it put the project on hold, because the film originally was going to be about these great bands that had not made it. So we left it alone for a couple of years and developed a different concept - still showcasing the struggles and the fact that Detroit is filled with great musical talent.”
“A Detroit Thing” is not complete, and the brothers will show a “rough cut” of the film in Traverse City.
“We are calling it a work in progress. It is basically done; we just have to tweak a few things,” said Brancaleone. “What we want is to get some input before we finalize the film, so we will hang and talk to the audience after each showing. It is also important that we not show the final version before film festivals have a chance to show it. If we do that, we will be ruled out at several festivals for consideration.”

RAVE REVIEWS
Mike Curths, who owns the Inside Out Gallery, has heard rave reviews from those who have seen sneak previews. Curths isn’t trying to take away from the film festival and hopes that his venue will be considered in future years.
“Our mission from the beginning was to be a gallery and a music and film venue,” said Curths. “We have acquired the old screen from the Bay, Theater in Suttons Bay and I am currently working on projection equipment. I hope to launch a year-round film series that will offer some advant-garde films and a lot of films about music.”
There will be several showings of “A Detroit Thing,” starting with a VIP party and premiere on Thursday night with a limited number of tickets available. Shows will take place all day Friday as well. On Saturday the film will show at Union Street Station, and after the final showing Saturday night, Kenny Olson, formerly of Kid Rock, will perform.
“We have known Kenny for years and he is one of the reasons why we are doing this up there first,” said Brancaleone. “I know he is from Traverse City, but we consider him one of our own down here. He is definitely an important part of the Detroit music scene.”
To learn more about the film, visit myspace.com/adetroitthing.com. For ticket information, contact the insideoutgallery.com or call 231-929-3254. For information on the Union Street showings and the Kenny Olson concert, call 231-941-1930. View On Our Website