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Film

Local stories hit the big screen at Kalamazoo Film Society’s fourth annual showcase

The event features mostly filmmakers from Kalamazoo and the surrounding region, with films shot in — and in some cases about — the city itself. One of the featured filmmakers, Jerod Kauffman, created a documentary about the final days of the longtime dive bar Harvey’s on the Mall, which closed after a buyout. Kauffman said he wanted to capture the story of a place that helped define Kalamazoo’s nightlife culture. “The closure was sudden to everyone — the community and staff — so I wanted to immortalize a place that was loved by so many,” Kauffman wrote to Watershed Voice. “I saw a fence and bulldozer outside the building today on the way to work. I think it's going to be torn down, so I am happy I was able to capture a piece of Kalamazoo history and the bar that stood and served the community for 40+ years.”

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Rapid fire film festival Kazoo 48 returns for its seventh year

Designed to introduce people to filmmaking while also challenging experienced creators, Kazoo 48 gives teams 48 hours to complete a short film between one and six minutes long. Each team must incorporate an assigned genre, line of dialogue, character, location, and prop into their film.  Once completed, the films are judged by a panel of local talent. Awards include prizes for best use of an assigned item and the festival’s signature award — a gold engraved kazoo — presented to the best films in both the amateur and professional categories.

Monoform to show ‘Ganja & Hess,’ a pivotal film in Black cinema

Often regarded as a landmark in the history of Black cinema, Ganja & Hess (1973) uses vampirism as a metaphor for “Black assimilation and identity, white cultural imperialism, addiction, desire, and the hypocrisies of organized religion,” Monoform Cinema wrote on its website.

Watershed Voice: Year in Review

Before our three-week publishing pause, Watershed Voice invites our readers to take a look back at the past year in local news. For Watershed Voice, it was a year marked by change, as we transitioned from one staff writer — Najifa Farhat for the first half of the year — to another, Maxwell Knauer, for the second half of the year. No matter the author of our stories, we aimed to bring prompt, fact-based, independent reporting to Southwest Michigan. Here’s a look at some of our favorite, most impactful, and most-read stories of 2025.

Doug Sears, Jr.: Shining a Light on Audience Behavior

Watershed Voice's Doug Sears, Jr. writes about a recent experience at the movie theater that induced anger, reflection, and ultimately empathy. "My rage was palpable, as movie theater misbehavior is high on my list of modern pet peeves. But I'm trying really hard to stay in the 'live and let live' mentality, and I don't want to compound her distraction by calling it out. I’d hate to initiate a prolonged argument with a stubbornly rude individual and draw everyone in the theater, even those who don't notice the Beacon of Gondor from their seat, into my distraction."

Joel Potrykus on Michigan, music, and truly independent filmmaking

“We’re always looking for the dead trees, the dirty water — the ugly spots nobody else is pointing a camera at. Because when I say I’m a Michigan filmmaker, it’s absolutely not in the vein of Pure Michigan tourism ads. That’s not it.”

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Matt Erspamer: Movies to Stream — The best of the Best

Watershed Voice's Matt Erspamer looks at some great past performances by this year's Oscar nominees available on a streaming service near you.

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Matt Erspamer: Tainted Love — A skeptic’s streaming guide to Valentine’s Day

Watershed Voice columnist Matt Erspamer watches Gone Girl every Valentine’s Day. Why? “Because it’s a fun, pithy little tradition that also feels like throwing the middle finger at a holiday that I find empty, silly, and annoying.” Read Matt’s guide for more recommendations on what to watch when you’re expecting — Valentine’s Day to suck.

Lawmakers seek to boost Michigan film production by reviving tax credits

On Tuesday, members of the House Economic Development and Small Business Committee took testimony on an effort to revive tax incentives for film and digital media, in a bid to draw more productions to the state and support local business.

Screen Tea Podcast: Barbenheimer

Welcome to Screen Tea Podcast! This week, join your hosts for a doubleheader as they record their impressions following their double-feature of Barbie and Oppenheimer, also affectionately known as Barbenheimer!

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