The Next American Dream : Kansas City : A Documentary Film

August 04, 2005 | Kansas City Star

And... action: KC makes film debut
By Laine Baker, Urban Living writer

I stop abruptly in my tracks, partly to adjust the sweaty hard hat falling from my head, in part to allow my mouth to hang open in awe. The room is a brilliant gold. Not just brilliant, but the kind of gold that you would imagine covers rooms in fairy tales. The walls include intricate decorative designs and mirrors that open to reveal huge windows overlooking the city. A small crew of men lifts and moves equipment and lights with the ease of obvious experience. One man stands calmly in the middle of the chaos, turning, pointing and studying the room — as he has done in various rooms all day. The room itself is incredible, but it is what is happening there that is truly important. The room is in the President Hotel in downtown Kansas City, the man is filmmaker John Altman and the task: capturing history.

“We have a great story going on in downtown, now is the time to start telling it,” said Bill Dietrich, president and chief executive officer of the Downtown Council, a project development partner.

Inland Sea Productions, with a team from Take Two Productions, has been shooting footage and interviews involving the revitalization of downtown for roughly a year and will continue to do so until the transformation is complete. The outcome will be a one hour nationally televised documentary called “Mending the Heart of an American City.”

People making it possible

The documentary, "Mending the Heart of an American City," has a project budget of $500,000. Local businesses, organizations and individuals have donated to help fund the project.

The funding partners are: H&R Block, Sprint, City of Kansas City Missouri Neighborhood Tourism Development Fund, Burns and McDonnell, BlueCross BlueShield of Kansas City, J.E. Dunn Construction, Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP, Victor E. and Caroline E. Schutte Foundation, Swope Community Enterprises, MWH Global Inc., Kansas City Power & Light, Kansas City Area Development Council, Executive Beechcraft/Downtown Airport, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Council of Kansas City, Mo., Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association, Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Mo., Bryan Cave LLP, Park University, Copaken White & Blitt and Heather Cantrell.

“Our main attraction truly is our enthusiasm for what we see in our hometown,” said Aimee Larrabee, founder of Inland Sea Productions and native Kansas Citian. “To turn our cameras on this area is such a privilege.”

Some major projects that the documentary will focus on are the new H&R Block World Headquarters, the Sprint Center Arena, the Power and Light District, the Performing Arts Center, The Kansas City Star Press Pavilion, the IRS complex, the Federal Reserve building, the President Hotel renovation and the Bartle Hall expansion.

Eye-in-the-sky cameras are also recording time-lapse images of the work from start to finish and the segment using the images will show the entire construction occurring in roughly two minutes.

The Kansas City Area Development Council is the film’s sponsor and is raising money to fund the project. The estimated cost of the documentary is $500,000.

“KC’s documentary project has a lot of momentum,” said Bob Marcusse, president and CEO of the KCADC. “So many area companies, leadership groups and even private individuals have stepped up to support the film.”

Dave Frantze of Stinson Morrison Hecker law firm and co-chairman of the Civic Committee on Urban Core Revitalization has donated to the project because he feels that it will benefit future generations.

“How all of this happened is important,” Frantze said. “It is an opportunity to show how we developed this for our children.”

Project coordinator for Take Two Productions Nicole Melton said the project has been a collaboration of hard work by many different people in Kansas City.

“The whole team of people working on this are instrumental,” Melton said. “The people of Kansas City are great and we just want to make a great documentary for them.”

Visit the Web site, www.thinkdowntownkc.com.

For a current list of funding organizations, go to: Funding Partners

For a project timeline, go to: Documentary Timeline

For more information on the documentary, contact LeeAnn Burt at 816.374.5657 or email burt@thinkkc.com.