A childlike single mother, Diamond, has lost everything to her heroin addiction.

In a last ditch effort to visit with the only person left in her life to love, Diamond, a heroin addict, must meet with a stern Children’s Protective Service agent. ‘Detroit Diamond‘ is a predominantly female driven cast & story, in particular highlighting female characters in positions of ‘power’ throughout and driving the story through our female protagonist.

Generally, female characters play roles to compliment their male counterparts. Detroit Diamond wanted to disrupt this trend. It also challenges the perception of addiction and asks audiences to have a more complex discussion surrounding the issue. We wanted to paint a picture that isn’t as clearly defined as the stereotypes that are associated with these individuals or circumstances. This is ultimately a human story about a mother struggling with her own addiction. It’s about people in her life coming at her from different directions. Some subtle, some very harsh. And at the end of it, the audience has to ask themselves, do I see a Mother? Or do I see a Heroin Addict?

Although running close to 25 minutes, the film uses the time to set the mood and pace, to help develop the struggling mother’s hopeless situation. The story focuses on a side that we rarely get to see, and despite the wrongful conditions, it builds a strong connection towards the main protagonist.

Our team was fearless in our endeavors by immersing ourselves in the environments of this story that took place on the southwest & east sides of Detroit. I believe the lengths we went to ensure the authenticity of this world can be seen and felt in every frame of the film. We wanted to make a film and tell a story that disrupts traditional trends of filmmaking. We leaned on the raw performances of our talented female cast. Our Director is of middle eastern and muslim descent, our screenwriter is Mexican-American and our Producer is African-American. In our eyes we had as diverse and unique a cast/crew as we possibly could have. In many ways, that’s what we feel made this project so special.