Kiara Williams is a dedicated movie lover. Some of her earliest and fondest childhood memories involve watching movies at her grandmother’s apartment and going to the theater with her friends as a teenager.

Last year, while watching the film “Sinners” at the theater, Williams realized it took her over 20 minutes to get there, and it would take her over 20 minutes to get back. The New York native thought it was ridiculous to need a vehicle and a hefty commute to see a movie. 

So, she decided to start her own theater, Treuse Cinema, in the heart of Detroit. 

Williams says movies bring hope—something the city deserves. 

“Movies give us the ability to dream,” Williams says. “One of the elders here that I’ve connected with in Detroit, his name is Maurice, he told me that when movie theaters stopped existing in Detroit, they took away the ability for Detroiters to dream.” 

Williams believes that Detroit should have access to quality films just like any other city.

 She hopes to build that access from the ground up.  

“Detroit has always been a city of stories, and I believe that the lack of a cinematic infrastructure for that medium to be shown, for those stories to be told, is devastating,” Williams said. 

More than just a movie theater

Williams is currently building community support for her project, Treuse Cinema, an expansive tri-use space. 

“This space exists in many different contexts,” she explains. “It’s for filmmakers to come and get inspired, for people to have a good movie-going experience, for the broader film industry to connect with the Detroit talent that’s already been here.”

Right now, Treuse Cinema is just an idea. Williams is searching for a permanent location in the city. Meanwhile, she and her partners have hosted various events to get Detroiters engaged with the concept.

Filmmakers Influx: Detroit

Williams hosted “Filmmakers Influx: Detroit” at The Shepard Art Gallery in July.

The event was designed to connect creatives and encourage collaboration ‘to have an energy of people connecting, stories overlapping that people would have never thought would overlap.’

The event had music, food and a panel of three Detroit-based filmmakers, who spoke about their experiences.

Filmmaker Paisley Sutton sees the need for film spaces in the city. “Detroit has such an amazing art scene, we’ve set the tone for so much culture around the world,” Sutton said. “So, I think it’s only right that we have strong communities, especially film communities here in Detroit.” 

Another panelist, Liv Morris, says that with so many big corporations coming into Detroit, communities like the one Williams is creating are extremely important. “There are a lot of institutions and big corporations coming in, in order to make something of Detroit, versus people who are actually trying to connect with artistic communities—and I think Kiara is one of those people,” Morris said. 

Community is one of the most important aspects of the project for Kiara Williams. She says she wants to create a space where movie-going can become a local, people-focused event. 

“I believe in people power,” Williams said. “I no longer see the power in corporatism, I know they have power with money, but we can access that, we can get the money, and I don’t need to waiver on my dream. I don’t need to waiver on what I believe and if there’s not alignment, then they’re not a part of the dream.” 

Above all else, Williams wants her future movie theater to be a place where Detroiters can connect with each other and with their dreams. 

Williams plans to continue organizing pop-up events until Treuse Cinema finds its forever home. 

The 45^th annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games was held at Huntington Place in Detroit earlier this month. 

When the games began in 1981only 77 veterans gathered to participate. Now, over 500 vets compete in more than 20 events. 2026 marks the first time the games were held in Detroit and brought people from across the nation to the city.

“Detroit is proud to be home of more than 22,000 veterans,” Victoria Westbrooks addressed the crowd on behalf of Mayor Mary Sheffield. “And we are committed to supporting those who have served our nation. Hosting this milestone event is a reflection of that commitment and our city’s spirit of resilience.”

One of the many competitors was Lisa Maddox, who served in the Army for nine years. Maddox competes in many events including pickleball, table tennis, softball, basketball, field events and air pistol. She says she enjoys the wheelchairs games not only for sports, but for the unique opportunity it presents.

“There’s a camaraderie that not just having a disability but also being a veteran that is here. That is not the same in other adaptive competitions,” Maddox said.

Maddox says vets have a deep connection.

“Even though we’re different services we all went through what I call a ‘similar suck’ in BASIC training or bootcamp. It’s hell. And we all went through that BASIC training so that’s the similarity.”

William Ward served in the military for 16 years and has participated in the games for many years. At the 2026 games, he competed in the wheelchair slalom, a sort of obstacle course race.

“This is the one event that’s one of the toughest,” Ward says. “I stopped doing it for like the last two years and because it’s always a challenge, one of the hardest ones. I don’t know my results yet, but I think I did pretty good.”

 The Detroit games were the fourth for Air Force Veteran Eva De Jesus. She says the event has helped her grow as a person.

“It’s more than sports,” De Jesus says. “For me, it’s the community, the people you meet, how you see people in, sadly, worse conditions than you are and do more than you do. So, for me it’s just a learning and beautiful experience to be here.”

The 2026 Wheelchair Games’ opening ceremony was held on July 8 and it ended with a closing ceremony on July 14.

This story originally aired July 15, 2026.