The Next American Dream : Kansas City : A Documentary Film

January 04, 2005 | Kansas City Star

Getting downtown down on film
By Kevin Collison

Documentary filmmakers Aimee Larrabee and John Altman believe the dramatic revival of downtown Kansas City currently under way has the stuff of more than just a home movie.

The pair, whose celebrated documentary "Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie" introduced the nation to the Flint Hills region of Kansas, are shifting their cameras to what is expected to be a three-year project chronicling the rebirth of a once-great downtown.

And they want to add an academic perspective so the film is suitable for broadcast nationally public television and cable.

"What we think is really cool is to use Kansas City as our petri dish for telling a big story," Larrabee said. "People are excited, and plans have been made.

"We're going to sit back as documentarians and watch the process take place."

The Kansas City Area Development Council is sponsoring the endeavor and raising money for what is expected to be its $500,000 cost. The organization is the primary development agency for an 18-county region and thinks the film, tentatively called "Mending the Heart of an American City," will be valuable locally and as a national promotional tool.

"We think that what is occurring in Kansas City right now is of historical significance and needs to be memorialized," said Bob Marcusse, the president and CEO of the development council.

"We found there was little physical evidence of the last great renaissance in the 1970s and didn't want that to happen again."

As opposed to the 1970s, when the Truman Sports Complex, Kansas City International Airport and Crown Center were built, the current construction boom downtown is confined to a relatively concentrated area.

The major projects: the new H&R Block headquarters, Kansas City Live entertainment district, President Hotel renovation, Sprint Center arena, Bartle Hall expansion, The Kansas City Star production plant and the proposed Metropolitan Performing Arts Center. All are concentrated in an approximately 20-block swath of downtown in or near the south loop area.

The filmmakers plan to place cameras at different locations for a time-lapse photography essay that will compress years of construction activity into a few minutes. At the same time, they will round up a panel of national experts to comment about how the revival of downtown Kansas City fits into the reclamation of major downtowns across the nation.

Faculty members at the Urban Design Department of the University of Pennsylvania have agreed to participate. More experts, nationally and locally, are being sought.

Larrabee founded her company, Inland Sea Productions, in 1995. Besides "Tallgrass Prairie," she and Altman have filmed two IMAX shorts and many corporate videos. Their other current projects include a documentary on major American historic documents including the Constitution and Declaration of Independence being done in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution.

Take Two Productions also has been assisting on the downtown Kansas City project.

For Altman, bringing his camera downtown is a return to his early days as a filmmaker. His family ties to Kansas City go back into the 19th century. His grandfather Frank Altman opened a jewelry store on Main Street in 1878, and he later built the Altman Building on Petticoat Lane in 1888.

Altman, whose cousin Robert Altman is the renowned Hollywood director, said his first documentary was about the 1972 demolition of his grandfather's old building. For the new film to have the substance to qualify as journalism, the poor decisions and neglect that led to downtown's decline have to be included, he said.

"We're getting into history and the way it was great and how things got bad," Altman said. "People in other cities will see this as the story of a city."

The filmmakers say they will provide raw footage to the Kansas City Area Development Council that can be used for promotional purposes. The film itself however, will be their creation.

Besides filming the demolition and rise of new buildings, streets and sidewalks, the Inland Sea crew will interview the developers, architects, planners, preservationists and new residents behind downtown's revival.

They hope to capture the excitement of a city returning to its historic core to create a better future, Larrabee said.

"We've got our cameras in place, we'll get the big picture from academics and then we'll sit back and see what happens," Larrabee said. "In the end, I think we'll see something come out of this that is truly wonderful."

Marcusse said H&R Block was the first major corporation to step up to the plate on the project, pledging $100,000 over the next three years. The Sprint Foundation has made a similar commitment. Dan Meisinger of Executive Beechcraft has committed $10,000 as well.

Mark Ernst, the CEO and president of H&R Block, considered the film a good opportunity to tout Kansas City's accomplishments.

Block spokeswoman Linda McDougall also said her firm's support of the project was associated with its longstanding involvement with the Kansas City Area Development Council. Henry and Richard Bloch were among the founders of the organization.

"You've got to continue to support what's happening downtown," she said. "You want to attract not only other Kansas City businesses and leaders to the area, but use it to help Kansas City attract businesses from out of town."

Larrabee said there is a definite business angle to the documentary, keeping Kansas City an attractive place for talented people who want an urban alternative.

"It's the business of pleasing the next generation of people," she said. "How do current leaders look in the crystal ball and see how people want to live?"