Right: Virginia Anzengruber films b-roll at Fountain Street Church. Opposite page: Sheri Beth Dusek (behind camera) films a movie at her home with Sasa Slogar, William Mosqueda, Greg Rogers, Kathryn Postma, Jackson Ezinga, Lucas Nielson and Courtney Leah.
“With the scarcity in the industry, it’s made people be a lot more resourceful and creative in terms of manifesting your own creativity. With a lot of the new production companies, with the accessibility of technology, we have to create our own opportunities, and some really cool things have come from that.” — Virginia Anzengruber
Dan Campbell
specific to the Michigan film industry, referring to House Bill 4122, later changed to Public Act 117 of 2015, which ended Michigan’s film incentive program. “The loss of the incentives hurt the community in ways that we weren’t expecting,” said 29-yearold Virginia Anzengruber, who coruns Snowball Studios with her husband, Stephen Pell. “Back before the heyday of the film incentive program, you couldn’t go two city blocks without running into an active film set in GR. Nowadays, that is near nonexistent, but there are still strong roots of indie film here,” added Dan Campbell, who co-owns Blue Falcon Productions, which recently released its first full-length feature film, “The Incantation.” “Currently, it may not be what it was five to eight years ago, but there is still an infrastructure and very talented local filmmakers around the area.” But, with these challenges also have some new and exciting opportunities. “With the scarcity in the industry, it’s made people be a lot more resourceful and creative in terms of manifesting your own creativ-
ity,” Anzengruber said. “With a lot of the new production companies, with the accessibility of technology, we have to create our own opportunities, and some really cool things have come from that.”
Wealth of resources
Aside from the resilience and creativity of local industry professionals, the support and facilitation of film within the local community also have played a role in propelling Grand Rapids’ film industry forward. From an educational standpoint, Grand Rapids is home to many film-centered resources, including its very own film school, Compass College of Cinematic Arts. “Our approach begins with learning how to tell a great story,” said Tom Lowe, Compass College admissions and marketing director. He said that much of the focus on Compass’ education is offering its students hands-on experience and connecting them with industry professionals and internships that will place them in industry jobs after they graduate. “That skill set travels with our students in any industry and on any screen around the world,” Lowe said. “We offer a hands-on education in digital media production, film and television.” Other local institutions also are extremely valuable to advancing the local film industry, such as the Grand Rapids Film Society, which was launched in 2016 to cultivate a culture that
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