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FLINT, MI – As a 9-year-old when Flint’s water switch occurred in 2014, Kamira Vorrice had to retrain herself to stay away from the tap in her home kitchen sink.
She had to stop bathing in the water. She couldn’t brush her teeth normally. She couldn’t drink it.
Now 12, Vorrice said she still wants to see change, with pipe replacements throughout the city and a greater sense of resolve for the city’s residents. The seventh-grader at Flint Southwestern Classical Academy was one of the hundreds in attendance Saturday night at the free showing and red carpet premiere of ‘Flint,’ the Lifetime network’s story of the city’s water crisis.
“I really thought it was special and heart-touching,” she said. “Everything that basically happened here, other cities don’t know what we have been through, and I liked the film because it’s telling the world our story. It’s been hard, and we’ve been through a lot.”
The television film, shot in Toronto, stars Queen Latifah, Betsy Brandt, Jill Scott, Lyndie Greenwood and Marin Ireland.
Executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron joined Brandt and Ireland were in attendance, speaking to the crowd ahead of the screening from the heart what they learned. about Flint and its residents through filming.
During the screening, Flint residents in the crowd cheered and jeered the different portrayals of local residents, politicians, and locations around the city. The crowd drew out resounding applause and cheers when actors playing Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha and Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards first appeared on screen, as well as erupting laughter when Latifah mentioned high water bill prices.
Attendees were able to meet with Brandt and Ireland afterward for a meet and greet with photo opportunities on the red carpet in the lobby of The Whiting, where the premiere was held.
Brandt is a Bay City native, graduating from Bay City Western High School in 1991. She said her memories of Flint in high school were traveling to Genesee Valley Center because it was “better than any mall closer”, and that the basketball and football teams would face off every year. She recalled making trips to Auto World as a child.
Brandt plays Flint resident LeeAnne Walters in the film and said residents’ resilience amidst the water crisis shows the strength of the character of Flint’s moral value. Brandt said she takes the story very personally, seeing the residents as her neighbors.
“I can only imagine what it feels like to be dealing with this when you’re living here. One day while shooting the movie, I said, ‘It’s like Groundhog Day, but it’s the worst Groundhog Day,'” Brandt said. “It has been well over 1,000 days of no clean water. I tell my kids about this, about thinking you couldn’t take a bath without getting a rash.
“I don’t wish this on anyone in any town, and certainly not the people of Flint. I just want Flint residents to know that everyone stands with them. It’s important to show up, and I hope that in the not so different future, we are celebrating that everyone has clean water.”
Lisa Hamilton Daly, vice president of original movies at Lifetime, said the spark for the movie came from the discussion after reading a TIME magazine cover story about the water crisis.
Hamilton Daly said Lifetime has an invested interest in stories about powerful women looking for their voice to be heard, and that this film needed to be made.
“This film served a double role. It shows you can be a citizen. You can be an average person and you can still try to effect change. We know the problem in Flint is ongoing, but we think that what these women did in really bringing it to the forefront and trying to get the process started to fix it is of incredible importance,” Hamilt
Ireland, who plays Flint resident and water activist Melissa Mays, said Flint will not be forgotten. She said after hours on the phone with Mays, and meeting her family she couldn’t believe how she had the energy to continue to protest for clean water.
She said this film is a guide for the rest of the country, as infrastructure continues to crumble beneath us, on how to participate in politics and fight against injustice.
“You just do it. There’s no magic answer. Nobody is a special hero with special powers. Everybody is tired and doesn’t feel good. You just get up and do it. I want Flint to know that we haven’t forgotten,” Ireland said. “This town is a shining example of how to fight, how to fight with love and how to fight together. It’s so beautiful.”