Through Sunday, March 23rd, the Freep Film Festival will be screening films at both the Fillmore Detroit and the Detroit Film Theatre (located at the Detroit Institute of Arts). The festival, sponsored by Detroit’s hometown newspaper, the Detroit Free Press, began with a Thursday night showing of Packard: The Last Shift (see trailer, above), a retrospective and prospective look at one of Detroit’s most controversial structures, the once-thriving Packard auto plant, which now constitutes the single largest contiguous urban ruin in the country.

A scene from the Detroit riots, in a capture from “Do You Think a Job is the Answer?” Photo courtesy of the Freep Film Festival

The theme of the festival is “Detroit does documentaries,” and as you may imagine, the lineup is entirely comprised of documentary views of life in Detroit, past and present. There are deep looks into Detroit history, including Yesterday and Tomorrow in Detroit, as well as a look at Detroit in the wake of the ’67 riots, Do You Think a Job is the Answer? Contemporary issues are covered as well, in Detroit Art City: The Detroit Institute of Arts Story; Lean, Mean & Green, which touches on the urban farming movement; and Stealing Home, which documents the efforts of a volunteer group that has sprung up to maintain the vacant grounds of the former Tiger Stadium. Also included are looks at some of Detroit’s past and present notable personalities, include Grace Lee Boggs (American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs), George Plimpton (Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself) and Madman or Martyr, a free short documentary about abolitionist John Brown and his role in the Detroit Underground Railroad.

These are just some of the weekend’s program, jam-packed with true entertainment for anyone with a passion for the city’s history, present charms and challenges, and future prospects. Don’t miss out on your chance to see a new dimension of Detroit on the big screen!

Detroit Film Theatre: 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-7887; www.dia.org/detroitfilmtheatre/14/DFT.aspx Fillmore Detroit: 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-961-5451; www.thefillmoredetroit.com