Click Here for Tickets to Ann Arbor January 30 at 7pm w QA

Best Feature Film - Fresh Coast Film Festival

What Audiences Are saying at the Test Screenings

“Im 80 years old, I was scared of Detroit my whole life, Now I am not”

"This was a huge wake up call for my Dad”

“My mom needs to see this, she is in the middle of the struggle”

“As a black man, you’ve done us proud”

“Every high schooler in Detroit should see this”

“Ive gone to 4 screenings and Brought new people each time”

“Holy sh**! Saw Resurgo last night in Marquette and we are overwhelmed by the culture, personal power, the extraordinary history,

the storytelling - Detroit is overwhelming. Courageous man! A great film”

“It was the first movie I ever saw that made me think about it like I just read a book”

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Producer/Director/Cinematographer Stephen McGee

Producer Jessica Care Moore / Detroit’s Poet Laureate

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Resurgo : Horizons

WATCH TEASER BELOW

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WATCH RESURGO DETROIT TEASER

Comments on the film, Questions about Screening the film or Tickets

Synopsis: Resurgo confronts a white father documenting a Black city, whose lens, $1 home and life navigate the fault lines of race exposing the historic forces that forged Detroit’s dual legacy of spectacular ruin and extraordinary resilience. Framed as a love letter to his daughter and quietly to his West Coast childhood home, the film draws urgent parallels between 1960s Rust Belt and the declining “Tech Belt,” as Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Hollywood, and Las Vegas are increasingly branded “the next Detroit”. Flipping the shorthand used to describe cities hollowed by vanished industries and population flight, Resurgo elevates local voices like producer and poet laureate Jessica Care Moore, whose commanding presence and cultural stewardship empower this 20 year visual symphony of humanity.

The TEAM: Director Stephen McGee and Producer Jessica Care Moore

The PRODUCER

“Jessica Care Moore is one of the most important storytellers of this century” - Talib Kweli
Producer Jessica Care Moore is Detroit’s Poet Laureate, the CEO of Moore Black Press, executive producer of BLACK WOMEN ROCK!, and founder of the literacy-driven jess Care moore Foundation. An internationally renowned poet, playwright, performance artist, and producer, she is the recipient of the 2013 Alain Locke Award from the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Stephen McGee and Jessica Care Moore first collaborated in 2010 for TEDX Detroit. Since then Jessica, born and raised in Detroit, and Stephen, raised in California, have collaborated on 12 films about Detroit. “All of those collaborations, combined with my interviews, curated the approach to this film, where I point my lens, my daily life and how I talk about Detroit.” - Director Stephen McGee

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Producer Christian Lathers : Producer Cory Coffey : Producer Stephen McGee

Point lens to THE PEOPLE

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‘The beautiful undercurrent’

As Detroit photographer Elonte Davis says in a recent interview. Interviews with community leaders including Marsha Music, Bill Harris, Waajeed, Ro Spit, Soufy, Hadassah Greensky, woven together into a narrative that welcomes the viewer into life in Detroit. Until recently, the popular narrative of Detroit, led by the abandoned buildings, eclipsed the reality of the people in the city from the outside world.

20 years-one timeline. @resurgofilm entered into @theacademy . Here’s a look at my studio, it’s where I’ve been building the story, it’s felt so close to failure but I know that on the other side, If I didn’t quit, if I

Carlos Nielboch is a master metalsmith, inventor and U.S. patent holder for Detroit Windmill. I first photographed him for the film that helped Detroit win unesco city of design award showing 100 creative spaces around detroit in 2015

Testing lights the night before @michigancentraldetroit opens. Posting this from California, trying to explain the importance of this building while next to the beach in conversation after conversation. The difference of fresh water vs salt water.

Candid shots from today’s “Nobody wants to come to detroit-tour” said in a joking way. Shot for @resurgofilm

Hadassah GreenSky @vibeswiththetribes, a yearly gathering in Detroit and her and @soufy313 at Kresge’s 100th anniversary at the Detroit Institute of Art where we had the honor of listening to them. The Anishinaabe had extensive trading routes t

Gather. detroit together. 😍 we’re just getting started. @champagneathletics

Every day I’m pushing Resurgo documentary forward, stacking clips, in production and post production at the same time and working closely with @detroithistorical is an honor I am humbled to have. The support from @fujinonlenses @fujifilmx_us @s

Sat May 25 @waajeed is performing @movementdetroit . I met him in 2015 for @kresgeartsdetroit and later went to France w him and others.

The story of Waajeed is a Detroit story. In the shadows of a towering Motown legacy, underground hip-hop, and h

The Director/Cinematographer

STEPHEN MCGEE

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THE SETUP TO 20 YEARS OF DOCUMENTING

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‘In 2005 I was a rootless, globe traveling, parachute journalist documenting some of the deepest levels of the human experience, pointing my lens where I thought I could make a difference. After almost being killed overseas, I landed back in California and questioned my purpose. The next day The Detroit Free Press called and I moved from California to Detroit. After seeing some of the world’s greatest ruins, both of past civilizations and humanity, I knew that the abandonment in Detroit was a larger than a zip code narrative.
‘Detroit could be the best mirror this country has’
For the next 19 years I became ingrained in the story I fell into. Yes, I explored Detroit’s ruins but my camera didn’t stop there. I pointed my lens to the people and listened to their stories. I began being invited into the real story of life in the city. Each of my almost 1000 interviews brought me closer to understanding how to present this symphony of visuals. Connecting back with people, sometimes after 10 years gives a perspective in life that I tried to represent in this film.’
-Stephen McGee - Director

This film travels a lot of ground, its a interwoven quilt of vignettes, you meet a lot of people, For Example:

The age of the abandonment narrative is over.

In the past 10 years Detroit has drastically changed and abandoned buildings that once legitimized Detroit’s failures are either being demolished at a record pace or coming back to life. The investment is staggering. This film explores a few of the post industrial gems and this evolving landscape and a few incredible before and afters shots taken sometimes decades apart.

The Anishinaabe

Pictured: Hadassah Greensky
Before this was Detroit, it was Waawiyaatanong “Where the Curved shores meet”.
“Under this concrete is our land”. Soufy from Detroit’s @vibeswiththetribes said. Long before this was the city we all love, this was Anishinaabe land full of Anishinaabek history.

Scene: The Opening Climb - “The Penobscot can be seen from all over the city, each time Id look at it I felt it called tome, when the eclipse came through Detroit, it justified the climb - STEPHEN MCGEE