Detropia is a 2012 American documentary film, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, about the city of Detroit, Michigan.
The letter "I" had been painted into the appropriate part of the store front to make the sign read "UTO PIA".
The three Detroiters who are profiled are video blogger Crystal Starr, nightclub owner Tommy Stephens, and United Auto Workers local President George McGregor, each of whom reflect on their own experiences and share their observations about the city, its problems, and its opportunities.
Directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady are the founders of Loki Films, a production company that specializes in documentaries.
Ewing, who grew up in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills, described the genesis of the Detropia project in a 2012 Q&A interview: ...my co-director and I, Rachel, started talking about the city of Detroit in late 2008, because I would return home and things really seemed to be getting worse and worse.
"[2]The film received funding from several sources, particularly the Ford Foundation and the Independent Television Service.
[2] Ewing elaborated further on the evolution of their filmmaking process in a HuffPost interview, We came back [from Detroit], made a trailer, and started to show it around.
Documentary Editing Award, and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.