Plot Synopsis

MOTOR CITY RISING follows the struggles and successes of young artists over six months, as these hopeful and hard-working urban pioneers move to Detroit, Michigan to revitalize down-and-out neighborhoods in the wake of the Great Recession. Detroit was once a powerful symbol of the American Dream. Now it has become a potent a symbol of post-industrial decline and flight, but something amazing is happening. For years, anybody who could has been moving out. Now, suddenly, people are moving in. Young artists are moving to Detroit. They're buying houses for 500 or 1000 dollars, moving in, creating communities, making art, and struggling to make lives for themselves. MOTOR CITY RISING features these creative revolutionaries, who are all younger than 40-years-old: Sean Forbes, a deaf rapper and founder of the Deaf Professional Arts Network, who is working on an album with Joel Martin, the head of Eminem's publishing company; Treger Strasberg, co-founder of Humble Design, which rescues discarded furniture to assist families from homeless/abuse shelters; artist and performer Nina Friday, who fled Russia and chose to settle in Detroit; Kyle Kentala, a DJ, who is referred to as the "Mayor of the Detroit Underground Scene"; Veronika Scott, a design student who invented a coat for the homeless, which turns into a sleeping bag; Anthony Salinger, a young comic who is battling cancer; Kobie 'Rift' Solomon, a graffiti artist and author of the book "My First Graffiti Coloring Book," who balances his nighttime adventures in art with his commissioned works; Adrienne Williams, part of The Art Direction, who launches her first photo exhibit; Garnett Mims, creator of fitness program Muscles in Motion System, who is building a gym in the middle of Detroit; and many more local, creative professionals.