Traverse City Film Festival

The Traverse City Film Festival is an annual film festival held every late July through early August in Traverse City, Michigan. The festival was created as an annual event in 2005 to help “save one of America's few indigenous art forms—the cinema." [http://www.traversecityfilmfestival.org/sections/press/prs/pr111105.html] The event was co-founded by Michael Moore, the Oscar-winning film director, well known for his anti-establishment films and documentaries such as "Fahrenheit 9/11", "Bowling for Columbine", and "Roger & Me", along with author Doug Stanton and photographer John Robert Williams.

The mission of the Festival is to show movies representing excellence in filmmaking, particularly those rare independent films and documentaries by both noted and new filmmakers, that do not receive mainstream distribution. The Traverse City Film Festival is a non-profit organization, and is funded by businesses, community groups and individuals, plus ticket sales for various events. The Festival is headed by a committee of Michigan area filmmakers, writers, and creative professionals. Deb Lake is the executive director, and the festival's only paid employee. [http://www.northernexpress.com/editorial/features.asp?id=3272] All other work is done by the nearly 1,000 volunteers.

The 2005 Traverse City Film Festival was held July 27-31. The 5-day event featured many independent films, plus four classic films. The independent films were shown in three indoor venues in downtown Traverse City: the State Theatre, the Old Town Playhouse, and the City Opera House. In addition, each night, a classic film was shown on a giant inflatable screen along West Grand Traverse Bay in the city’s Open Space Park.

"Broken Flowers", a winner at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, was shown at the Traverse City Film Festival before being released to the general public. Other 2005 Traverse City Film Festival selections covered a gamut of film subjects ranging from period romances, unemployment, terrorism, among many other subjects.

The second annual Traverse City Film Festival was held July 31 through August 6, 2006.

The third annual festival was held July 31 through August 5, 2007.

Fourth annual festival: July 29-August 3, 2008. Special appearance by Madonna, on August 2, 2008, introducing her film "I Am Because We Are".

Film selections

2008

*"Absurdistan"
*"Anvil! The Story of Anvil"
*"Baghdad High"
*"Bigger, Stronger, Faster"
*"Blow-Up"
*"Body of War"
*"Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame"
*"Captain Abu Raed"
*"CSNY Déjà Vu"
*"The Deal"
*""
*"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
*"Dust"
*"Encounters at the End of the World"
*"Flash of Genius"
*"4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
*"Frozen River"
*"Funny Face"
*"The General"
*""
*"Goodbye Bafana"
*"The Grocer's Son"
*"Hamlet 2"
*"Head Wind"
*"Helvetica"
*"I Am Because We Are"
*"Idiocracy"
*"Johnny Got His Gun"
*"Kenny"
*"The Last Winter"
*"A League of Their Own"
*"Let the Right One In"
*"Man in the Chair"
*"Man on Wire"
*"" - (Mike's Surprise)
*"Miss Gulag"
*"Mongol"
*"The Objective"
*"Older Than America"
*"On the Town"
*"Paraiso Travel"
*"Persepolis"
*"The Pope's Toilet"
*"Pray the Devil Back to Hell"
*""
*""
*"Profit motive and the whispering wind"
*"Redacted"
*"Religulous"
*"Sleep Dealer"
*"Song Sung Blue"
*"The Substitute"
*"Sympathy for the Lobster"
*"Tell No One"
*"Terra"
*"Theater of War"
*"Them"
*"Trouble the Water"
*"Trumbo"
*"Up the Yangtze"
*"Vicky Christina Barcelona"
*"War, Inc."
*"War, Love, God & Madness"
*"When Did You Last See Your Father?"
*"Wild Strawberries"
*"Yonkers Joe"
*"The Youngest Candidate"

Free Movies at the Open Space:
*"Ghost Busters"
*"The Best of Looney Toons"
*"Singin' in the Rain"
*"Back to the Future"
*"A League of Their Own"

2007

*"9 Star Hotel"
*""
*"Arctic Tale"
*"Away from Her"
*"Black Butterfly"
*"Black Sheep"
*"Blame it on Fidel"
*"Blue State"
*"The Bridge on the River Kwai"
*"Chicago 10"
*"Curse of the Golden Flower"
*"Day Night Day Night"
*"Deliver Us From Evil"
*"Dont Look Back"
*"Eleven Men Out"
*"Everything's Cool"
*"The Fever of '57"
*"Fireworks Wednesday"
*"Grace Is Gone"
*"The Graduate"
*"The Host"
*"I Am an American Soldier"
*"In a Lonely Place"
*"In the Shadow of the Moon"
*"The King of Kong"
*"Little Children"
*"The Lives of Others"
*"Maxed Out"
*"Mephisto"
*"Miss Navajo"
*"Molière"
*"My Best Friend"
*"Nashville"
*"Nimrod Nation"
*"No End in Sight"
*"Notes on a Scandal"
*"Once"
*"Our Daily Bread"
*"Paprika"
*"Paris, je t'aime"
*""
*"Please Vote for Me"
*"Rocket Science"
*"Sherrybaby"
*"Sicko" Deleted Scenes — (Mike's Surprise)
*"The Situation"
*"Slaughterhouse-Five"
*"A Slim Peace"
*"Talk to Me"
*"Taxi to the Dark Side"
*"The Ten"
*""
*"Tuya's Marriage"
*"The Valet"
*"Waitress"
*"War/Dance"
*"West Bank Story"

Free Movies at the Open Space:
*"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial"
*"Grease"
*"North by Northwest"
*"Raiders of the Lost Ark"

2006

*"a/k/a Tommy Chong"
*"Air Guitar Nation" — Audience Prize (Silver)
*"Amadeus"
*"The Beauty Academy of Kabul"
*"" — Excellence in Filmmaking Award
*"Born on the Fourth of July"
*"Caché"
*"The Canary Effect" — Stanley Kubrick Award for Bold and Innovative Filmmaking
*"The Dying Gaul"
*"Far and Away"
*"Flirting with Disaster"
*"Fresh"
*"Hotel Rwanda"
*"I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With"
*"An Inconvenient Truth"
*"Innocent Voices"
*"Iraq in Fragments"
*"Iron Island"
*"Jesus Camp" — Scariest Film Award
*"John and Jane Toll Free"
*"Joyeux Noël"
*"Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"
*"L'America"
*"La Moustache"
*"Little Miss Sunshine" — Audience Prize (Bronze)
*"Lost Skeleton of Cadavra"
*"Men at Work" — Founders Prize
*"Nine Lives"
*"O Lucky Malcolm"
*"Paradise Now"
*"Pittsburgh"
*"President Mir Qanbar"
*"The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" — 'Splain Award (why this film wasn't brought to Traverse City)
*"The Promise"
*"The Road to Guantánamo" — Founders Prize
*"Scoop"
*"Soldiers Pay"
*"Some Mother's Son"
*"Son of Man" — Founders Prize
*"The Squid and the Whale"
*"Street Thief" — Homeland Security Award
*"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada"
*"The Great 04 Slacker Uprising" - (Mike's Surprise)
*"This Film Is Not Yet Rated"
*"Three Kings"
*"Tsotsi"
*"The TV Set"
*"Viva Zapatero!" — Audience Prize (Gold)
*"The War Tapes" — Best Cinematography
*"Who Killed the Electric Car?" — Roger Smith Award
*"Winter Passing" — Best Use of the Words Traverse City in a Feature Film
*"Wordplay" — Best Action Film
*"Zathura"Stanley Kubrick Tribute:
*""
*"Barry Lyndon"
*"A Clockwork Orange"
*"Eyes Wide Shut"
*"Full Metal Jacket"
*"The Killing"
*"Lolita"
*"Paths of Glory"
*"The Shining"
*"Spartacus"
*""Free Movies at the Open Space:
*"Dr. Strangelove"
*"Jurassic Park"
*"Monty Python and the Holy Grail"
*"Napoleon Dynamite"
*"Pee-wee's Big Adventure"
*"The Wizard of Oz"

2005

*"11 de Septembre"
*"The Assassination of Richard Nixon"
*"The Ax"
*"Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress"
*"The Baxter" — Audience Grand Prize
*"Broken Flowers"
*"Czech Dream" — Nonfiction Prize
*"Downfall" — Fiction Prize
*"The Edukators" — Founders' Grand Prize
*"" — Scariest Film
*"A Good Woman"
*"Grizzly Man" — Founders' Grand Prize
*"Gunner Palace"
*"Home of the Brave"
*"Italian for Beginners" — Preservationist Award
*"Time Out"
*"Land of Plenty"
*"Les Miserables" — Preservationist Award
*"Mad Hot Ballroom"
*"Me and You and Everyone We Know"
*"Mondovino"
*"My Summer of Love"
*"Human Resources"
*"The Life of Brian" — (Mike's Surprise)
*"The Talent Given Us" — Best First Film
*"Tarnation" — Stanley Kubrick Prize
*"The Woodsman"Free Movies at the Open Space:
*"Casablanca"
*"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
*"Jaws"
*"The Princess Bride"

Celebrities in attendance

*Michael Moore
*Larry Charles
*Terry George
*Madonna
*Malcolm MacDowell
*Jeff Daniels
*Matthew Modine
*David O. Russell
*Gretchen Mol
*Jeff Garlin
*Alex Gibney
*Ari Emanuel
*D.A. Pennebaker
*Brett Morgen
*Marilyn Agrelo
*Rebecca Reynolds
*Tod Williams
*Jake Kasdan
*Mani Haghighi
*John Laurence
*Adrian Belic
*Andrew Wagner
*Jonathan Caouette
*Rob Tappert
*Larry Brand
*Robert Hughes
*Richard Brooks
*Joel Milner
*Tod H. Williams
*John Lyons
*Chris Hegedus
*Daniel B. Gold
*Judith Helfand
*Malik Bader
*Jan Harlan
*Josh Gilbert
*Sabina Guzzanti
*Mark Dornford-May
*Jason Pollock
*Tia Lessin
*Carl Deal
*Chris Bell
*Phil Donahue
*Ellen Spiro
*Stanley Donen

External links

* [http://www.traversecityfilmfestival.org/ Official Site - Traverse City Film Festival]
* [http://www.record-eagle.com/filmfest/ Ongoing Film Festival coverage, including daily news, blog & photos from the Record-Eagle, Traverse City's daily newspaper]

ee also

* Inflatable movie screen