0 0 a i Personal Statement Watching.from abroad )oc $ hen asked by Czechs last semester what I was doing in the Czech Republic, I said I came to study "politika," politics, my language teacher's simplification of "public policy." "Why would you come to the Czech Republic to study politics?" a talkative barfly named Petr asked me. "It is the worst." Among other generalizations, my program's administrators and professors (all Czech) iterated to us that Czechs were politically apa- thetic and rarely cared to discuss the topic. Perhaps theywere letting us American students down gently, before our enthusiasm about our own presidential election pro- pelled us into conversational brick walls with Czech acquaintances. Although, conversation about the US election season was actual- ly much less widespread among my fellow students than I'd expected. At times it was almost possible to forget it was going on. One eve- ning, I heard the names "McCain" and "Obamu" - the quirky moniker resulting from Czech grammar - in the din of white noise from my host family's ever-running televi- sion. I renewed my efforts to probe my host mother's view of American politics. I asked whether Czechs were talking about the election, if they were excited about Bush leav- ing, if they were on tenterhooks about the historical precedents being set. She shrugged noncom- mittally: "America is far away." I felt sheepish after my ini- tial, genuine shock at what she'd said. I'd assumed America loomed FILM INDUSTRY From Page 5B "We're trying to really bring people back," Rubin said. "A lot of our friends who have moved up to L.A. and New York are continually coming back to Michigan for work and auditions, and we're trying to set ourselves up as one of the pre- mier production companies here in Michigan." BUILDING THE FLEDGLING INDUSTRY While the immediate results of the initiative are encouraging, Michigan has some work to do to reap the maximum benefits. equally large in any European country, carrying logistical as well as psychological weight. My host mother forgave my textbook faux pas as innocent enough. But her reservations toward talking about politics were echoed in other con- versations I had. "I hate talking politics, because. Czech politicians are terrible. How do they get in power?" said Petr's equally talkative friend, also named Petr. "In France or Ger- many, in any Western European country, in America, if the leaders there did the things leaders here do - it would not happen. Here, they go away for a while, and they come back." Petr 2's comment was a common one I heard Czechs say about their politicians: that they are corrupt, and when some aspect of foul play is discovered, they disappear for six months and then return to their positions. "A few years ago we elect red wine - it is like, we say, red wine is God." Petr 2 gestured apprecia- tively at his glass. "Then, days after coming to power, red wine says, 'We're friends with white wine.We like it."' "Leaving you with rose," I joked. Petr 2 laid out his metaphor for an incident emblematic of the worst of the mistrust in Czech politics - in 1998, the two major opposing parties, who had nearly demonized each other, colluded after a parliamentary election that left them both weak. "It is a knife in the heart," he said, grimacing and squeezing imaginary stress balls in the air in front of his ribs. It was in this slightly contradic- The state's inexperienced work- force and lack of permanent infra- structure present problems to filmmakers looking to shoot here. Without sound stages and studios in the state, post-production must happen elsewhere after a film wraps up shooting in Michigan. A lack of studios also makes it diffi- cult to shoot in the winter, prevent- ing the industry from providing a year-round source of revenue. Other states with successful tax credit programs have followed up by developing infrastructure - Louisiana now has six soundstages and studios in its three largest cities. Michigan started to take that next step in early January, when the Michigan Film Office tory atmosphere that I followed our longest break of the semester. the big news stories breaking back Students traveled far and wide, .home and observed the ripple cashing in on the temporary, mea- effect felt in Europe. ger benefits of the crisis. As the financial crisis worsened, In Berlin, my friend Julia and I my peers shared newspaper head- enjoyed the slightly weaker euro lines that seemed lifted from a in combination with other soulful futuristic doomsday novel. charms of one of Western Europe's But for the students in my pro- cheaper capital cities. We ate doner gram, the economic turmoil had kebabs, a Turkish dish popular in its advantages. As the recession the Kreuzberg neighborhood of spread to Europe, the dollar actu- former East Berlin, surrounded by ally began to gain against the other appreciative tourists. A man at the next table over, one of three clean-cut blonds who had managed to keep their hands and faces clean Surrounded by of sauce, got our attention and said he guessed.that we were from Czechs, I had Boston (neither of us are). I asked where he was from and he said he an altered view was from Finland. of breaking "But you don't know where that is, do you?" he asked rhetorically, U.S. news. with a slighting glint in his eye. His undisguised scorn stood out, buta note of schadenfreude toward Americans was present in some euro and the Czech korun. Meals dose in many exchanges I had with dropped from $6 to $5, convenient- Czechs about America's economic ly passing the imaginary line in my problems. The gist of what we head that separates the good deals were usually asked was a kind of an from the overpriced. excited rebuke: "What did you big Between classes, students shots think was going to happen, crowded the computer lab in our anyway?" I couldn't help noticing a study center, a low white building pleasure people seemed to take in next door to a convent on castle testing the waters of our (unaccus- grounds south of the city, calculat- tomed) discomfort. ing the downward progress of the Before I went home and faced price of flights to Barcelona and reality, the financial crisis in Amer- Amsterdam. ica felt eerily relegated to head- A month after the Dow Jones lines, not yet to life. I felt offput lost over a trillion dollars in one by the realization that I was tem- day, a national holiday commemo- porarily getting by without being rating the creation of an indepen- swept along in an American expe- dent Czechoslovak state gave us rience. I worried that the tumult of the election of our next president would, from that distance, only glance off me, too. It felt paramount to me that I watch the results come in on elec- tion night, but the timing was puz- zling. I felt desperate to grasp at what little I could of the experience of being in the States, with people I loved, who I knew had been follow- ing-the election with a thrillingly new sense of investment. Instead I woke up from an unluckily timed 5 a.m. living-room-floor nap when my friend shuffled over to me, her cell phone illuminating the dark apartment, and said, "Obama won. I got a text message." I was furious - at the anti- climacticism of the revelation, at myself for missing a chance to join in the catharsis I'd felt could unify me with the people and places I longed for back home. I hated feeling on the peripheries of a momentous event, a kind of gathering of peer consciousness I'd never experienced before and didn't know when I would see again, and not being engulfed in its center. I caught a night tram to the expat bookstore that was showing the election coverage on a projec- tion screen. I was crying before I got to the bookstore and clamored into the room full of celebrating Americans just as Obama began his acceptance speech. The hours I'd meant to spend there were not to be retrieved - time and Ameri- ca both had marched on, and that morning, I ran to catch up. -Abigail B. Colodner is a writer for The Michigan Daily Arts section. And it, can't be ignored that one of the industry's main advan- tages is its glamour - especially in Michigan, where a little star- studded stimulus could go a long way in counterbalancing the dis- mal economic news preoccupying residents. "People can read the front page stories and see Hollywood is tak- ing notice of Michigan, and then they go to the movies and see it up there on the screen," Burn- stein said. "You don't think people take pride in that? 'Hey, that was my neighborhood. ... That is my friend's house they shot at' That's worth something, and to not figure that into the equation would be a huge mistake." announced plans to build three production studios in the state. "The Steam Experiment" pro- ducer Martinez said the program's success in Michigan can only be evaluated after a minimum of five to 10 years, after investment opportunities start to take shape and the reputation of the state as a good filming location flourishes among filmmakers. "If it's not a permanent program, that would be a waste," Martinez said. "Those tax incentives make sense only if there is a long-term plan." Both Martinez and "Youth in Revolt" producer Permut noticed on their sets that crewmembers hired in state hadn't quite learned the ropes of the industry yet. "If you go to Louisiana today and you want to hire someone for a job, you have the choice of 10 to 12 people that apply for that specific job, and they are very, very quali- fied," Martinez said. "In Michigan, you have a couple. So that means that what we had to do on this film was train a lot of people." Both the tax credit percent- age and the amount of funding required to launch a new industry are high, but Burnstein estimated that for every rebate-eligible dollar spent on production, three more are spent in the local economy - meaning small businesses stand the most to gain from the tax credit program.