DETROIT – The world premier of "Accidental Activists," a new documentary about April and Jayne Deboer-Rowse's three-year battle for marriage equality, will be April 2 in Detroit. Created by Detroit Free Press photographer and videographer Mandi Wright, the film chronicles their journey all the way from couple's initial lawsuit that sought joint custody of their adopted children to the case's expansion into the centerpiece of the fight that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in the historic case that brought marriage equality to the entire country.
Titled "Accidental Activists," the film follows the twists and turns of the legal struggle that would turn these unassuming moms into the most unlikely of activists. The world premier will be 5 p.m. April 2 and 2 p.m. April 3 at the Marvin and Betty Danto Lecture Hall at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The April 2 screening will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Free Press columnist Brian Dickerson that will include April and Jayne DeBoer-Rowse and their attorneys Dana Nessel and Robert Sedler. The April 3 screening will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by BTL co-publisher Jan Stevenson.
'From This Day Forward'
Trisha Shattuck came out to her daughters as a transgender woman when they were in elementary school; she told her wife, Marcia, early on in their relationship. They've now been married for 35 years in a partnership that has been at times strained and at others joyous. For her children, it made for an even more embarrassing adolescence than the norm, but all four Shattucks appear to have come through, mostly unscathed, on the other side. "From This Day Forward," set largely in northern Michigan, ably delves into how Trisha transitioned (and continues to transition, seemingly on a daily basis), exploring everything from where her name came from and her search for femininity in wardrobe, makeup and voice to her reception in a small-town community and how she handles her eldest's wedding. Trisha calls it being "on the fence" – a fluid concept, with plenty of room for so-called normalcy. This is a powerful look at the complicated nature of the spectrum of gender identity and the question of what love is through a focus on one person's, and one family's, story. This will be the Metro Detroit premiere. The screening is 8 p.m. April 2 at the Emagine Theatre in Royal Oak, followed by a panel discussion moderated by trans activist Amy Hunter, Trans Project coordinator at the Michigan ACLU.
'Treasure'
Subtitled "From Tragedy to Transjustice, Mapping a Detroit Story," Treasure is the story of the death of Shelly Hilliard, an African-American transgender teen who was brutally murdered and mutilated in 2011. The documentary by Detroit writer-filmmaker dream hampton is an unblinking look at what happened to Hilliard and the overwhelming pain it caused her mother and sisters. But it also focuses on the efforts under way locally to help young people like her who often face prejudice from the outside world, rejection at home and poverty that drives them to prostitution. There will be a panel discussion with film subjects and community representatives after the screening. The film will show at noon Sunday, April 3 at the Marvin and Betty Danto Lecture Hall at the DIA.
