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07/28/2006
In the spotlightFestival brings national attention to cityTRAVERSE CITY — Traverse City Film Festival 2 is ratcheting up its profile a notch. The second annual festival opens Monday and is expected to launch Traverse City into the national spotlight with dozens of film industry insiders in attendance and national coverage by media including People magazine, USA Today, National Geographic Traveler, the Film Festival Channel and Daily Variety, a leading daily newspaper of the entertainment industry. Journalists from Pakistan, Brazil, China, Germany and Russia — in northern Michigan for a conference on Great Lakes issues — also have confirmed they will attend. "This event has, in 12 months, become one of the top destinations not only in Michigan, but all over the county," said festival founder and director Michael Moore. "There are literally going to be thousands of people coming to Traverse City to watch movies. The fact that Daily Variety is covering this means everyone in Hollywood will hear about this festival." The week-long festival kicks off Monday with a 2:30 p.m. opening ceremony in front of the State Theatre in downtown Traverse City. Front Street between Park and Cass will be closed to traffic from 2 to 3 p.m. for the event, which will feature Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, former Gov. William G. Milliken, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich), State Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer (R-Bellaire) and local community leaders in a bi-partisan "show of unity" for the festival and the art of film, Moore said. Granholm often points to the festival as a model for how other communities can use film festivals to pump money into the local economy, he added. Running through Aug. 1, the festival features 95 screenings of 68 domestic and foreign films, plus free daily panel discussions with Hollywood guests like actors Malcolm McDowell ("A Clockwork Orange") and Matthew Modine ("Full Metal Jacket"), three public parties, a teen workshop and other events. Highlights include tributes to directors David O. Russell ("Three Kings"), Lawrence Bender ("An Inconvenient Truth") and Terry George ("Hotel Rwanda"); a 50th anniversary retrospective of legendary director Stanley Kubrick's work with Kubrick's executive producer Jan Harlan; and a salute to Iranian cinema. Other highlights are a 250th birthday tribute to Mozart, featuring live music by the Traverse Symphony Orchestra, and a presentation of the festival's first Michigan Filmmaker Award to filmmaker and actor Jeff Daniels. "There's going to be an interaction between Hollywood and the people of northern Michigan in a way that's never been seen before," said Moore, who closed his New York office for three weeks so he and a dozen staff members can focus on the festival. "While I'm sure people will be surprised to see Hollywood directors on the street or sitting in the restaurant next to them, it will be equally surprising for (the directors) to see the reaction of people to their movies. "They don't play these movies in places like Traverse City. They think people in Middle America won't go to see them, that they want car crashes and chases," he added. "I want them to know the truth: that people want to see good movies that are intelligent, daring, fascinating and highly entertaining." As of Wednesday, Moore said 32,000 festival tickets had been sold, with 6,000 remaining. Seats are available for about half of the screenings, including one of the top-selling films "An Inconvenient Truth," added box office manager Bryn Lynch. "There's still some good stuff out there," she said. The popular, free Open Space films are back again this year with a three-story screen and new perks like free seat cushions for the first 250 attendees and warm-up entertainment each night. Hint: look for knights in battle before "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and a "nerd" dance contest before "Napoleon Dynamite." Also back is Mike's Surprise, a 10 p.m. closing night screening of a film chosen by Moore for "the curious and the brave" and kept a closely guarded secret until showtime. As it was last year, festival logo merchandise will be available at all film venues. But for the first time, film-goers can order items online, from T-shirts and hats to bags, mugs and refrigerator magnets. Besides traditional opening and closing parties, the festival also will feature a new mid-festival party on the patio at Holiday Inn West Bay. Revelers in casual to trendy dress can dance to Cajun music, sample Hollywood theme drinks, nibble on treats from fruit kabobs to white chocolate from a triple-chocolate fountain and win festival-related prizes. More important, they can rub shoulders with celebs like Russell and Bender. "We just wanted to give one more opportunity for everybody to get together and have that camaraderie of talking about movies after the movies," said events coordinator Allison Beers. "It's just one more day to get out and have a good time with everybody." With just three more days to go, festival general director Deb Lake said staff and volunteers are shifting into high gear. "It's exciting," she said. "Things are coming together rather than falling apart, and that's good."
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