ISHPEMING – Forging Futures, a new local non-profit organization, is excited to announce its first fundraising event. Forging Futures is based in Ishpeming and is dedicated to supporting the community through improvement projects and youth-centered programs.

The fundraising event will feature a screening of Anatomy ’59: The Making of a Classic Motion Picture at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, in the Peterson Auditorium at Ishpeming High School.

“Anatomy ’59” is an hour-long documentary detailing the making of “Anatomy of a Murder.” In 1959, director Otto Preminger brought “Anatomy of a Murder” to the silver screen. It was the first movie filmed entirely on location. All scenes were shot in Marquette County over an eight-week period in spring 1959.

Preminger’s academy-award nominated motion picture was an adaptation of 1958’s bestselling book of the same name by Ishpeming author and attorney John Voelker (whose pen name was Robert Traver). Voelker’s fictionalized bestseller was based on a real 1952 murder trial defended by attorney Voelker in Marquette County Circuit Court.

A panel discussion will be part of the evening’s program. Ishpeming native and Anatomy ’59 filmmaker John Pepin will discuss his documentary, which was released to celebrate the golden anniversary of Anatomy of a Murder in 2009. The Honorable Michelle Rick, from the Michigan Court of Appeals, will detail the significance of the landmark legal precedent used by the defense in the original court trial.

A question-and-answer session will follow. Light refreshments will be provided.

No advance tickets will be sold for the event. Instead, a donation of $10 or more is requested at the door. DVD copies of “Anatomy ’59” will be sold at the event for $25.

Proceeds from the evening’s event will go to Forging Futures, to help fund rebuilding of a playground off Wabash Street in Ishpeming – the non-profit’s first community improvement project.