Paper Folders Join BETWEEN THE FOLDS Screening in Grand Rapids

Producing Partners are local community organizations that co-present Community Cinema screenings across the country. Last night, Producing Partner WGVU Television & Radio in Grand Rapids, MI, screened the Independent Lens film BETWEEN THE FOLDS. The film looks at fine artists and theoretical scientists who have abandoned careers and scoffed at hard-earned graduate degrees to forge unconventional lives as modern-day paper-folders. Emily Maurin of WGVU gives her take on the event below:

Rodger Despres, a local paper folder, displays a 45-foot long paper model train that took him 1,500 hours to construct.

Following the screening, audience members tested their skills by making paper folded dogs.

What a great night! We were extremely lucky to have two amazing paper folders with us––Richard Alexander, one of the film’s participants, and Rodger Despres, a local paper folder who has constructed a 45-foot long paper model train. They each offered a different perspective on paper folding. Richard spoke about his artwork through Origamido, as well as his experiences making his own paper, which is beautiful on its own!

Rodger discussed how he has used paper to engineer working train cars and tracks. He was very excited since Richard was the first paper folder he had met! They talked about how paper folding is almost a secret society that is just now emerging as a mainstream art.

Richard impressed the audience with his butterfly ball, constructed of 12 pieces of folded paper. When he tossed the ball in the air and struck it, the ball became 12 fluttering butterflies. He then taught me how to put it back together using “storygami,” a way to work through the steps, but I haven’t had the guts to smash it up yet.

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Tags: Michigan, paper folding, WGVU

Grand Rapids Kicks Off the New Season of Community Cinema

D TOUR Panel Receives Well-Deserved Round of Applause

left to right: Emily Coyle, Tricia Coyle, Emily Maurin WGVU, Sue Lewis and Jill Morrill

Michiganders kicked off Community Cinema’s 2009-2010 Season last night in Grand Rapids at The Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts. After the screening of D TOUR, we had a small but passionate crowd for this film, and an extremely knowledgeable panel.  Just a few months ago, Jill Morrill donated her kidney to her 12-year-old daughter, who suffers from cystinosis.  Sue Lewis donated her kidney two years ago to the father of one of her son’s friends.  Tricia Coyle received a donated kidney a couple of months ago through a paired donor program in Toledo.  Her daughter, Emily Coyle, worked hard to spread the word about her mother needing a donor – and recently found out that she suffers from the same genetic disorder that caused her mother’s kidney to fail.

Tags: community, community cinema, D Tour, discussion, documentary, events, film, films, free, Grand Rapids, Independent Lens, itvs, Michiganders, news, pbs, venue, WGVU