Greyland

Thursday, May 25 at Abandoned Building Brewery

Doors at 6:30pm, Starts at 7pm.

Acclaimed documentarian Lawrence Hott will be joining us to participate in a talkback and lend his expertise (he did not direct this film). ABB brews delicious craft ales to enjoy during the screening if you choose, and food from elsewhere is permitted.Greyland is a fascinating documentary which feels very close to my heart, because I grew up in a small midwestern town very much like the setting of this film. The film is an intensely personal portrait of two local characters and the city itself, and it invites larger conversations about how things got this way and what might be done to affect change.Directed by Alexandra Sicotte-Lévesque, Greyland is the story of one of the fastest shrinking cities in the United States: Youngstown, Ohio. Once the booming center of American steel, when the bottom fell out of the industry in the 1950's 60% of the population moved out. Today, 37% of the remaining population live beneath the poverty line like Rocco and Amber. A recovering heroin addict turned urban archeologist, Rocco hunts through hundreds of abandoned houses. Vintage clothing, records, art works, everything he finds goes to Greyland, his art gallery / thrift store, to be converted into cash. Amber is a single mother and the president of the Neighborhood Association of Homeowners, leading the fight against city hall for their inaction in cleaning up her neighborhood. “We want to believe,” Amber says, “that there’s good, hopeful things coming.”

This film runs 1 hour and 17 minutes, and contains occasional adult language and references to drug use.