friday's downtown premiere of "Steel Valley" presents a question

Through the international media, the eyes of the world are upon Pittsburgh this week as the G-20 Conference is kicking into high gear.

And the emerging narrative describes Pittsburgh as a city that has successfully reinvented itself - into a cleaner, smarter, greener and more prosperous place.

Because Youngstown is a part of the Pittsburgh mega-region, the international press has found its way to the Mahoning Valley as well.

One piece from Britain's Daily Mail, and one from the BBC illustrate two intertwining stories for this corner of Northeast Ohio:

The slow-dying city vs. The innovative city of recovery

so a proper question may be:

"What is the future path of Youngstown and its people?"

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it's along this question that Kevin DeOliveira's "Steel Valley" movie enters the scene and tells its story.

Here's the trailer:



The movie will be shown Friday evening in downtown youngstown for the first time ever.

Seating begins at 7pm at the DeYor Center on Federal Street.

Free show, donations welcome, open to the public.

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The many news briefs this week regarding the premiere (here, here, and here with audio here) also tell the story of Mr. DeOliveira and his documentary, and it's a good example of someone just going out there and making it happen.

"Though DeOliveira is 21, that doesn't mean he isn't capable of making a quality production. He began working at local production house Accent Media when he was still in high school, where he continues to work while studying electronic media production at Kent State University."

perhaps DeOliviera's efforts are an example of what's possible in a place like Youngstown:

free to follow your passion,
space to get it done,
support for producing a quality product.



What's your path?

What do you want to see happen here?