Video: Standing ovation for Baghdad High

2008 Traverse City Film Festival

August 4, 2008

Anonymous The Record Eagle Mon Aug 04, 2008, 11:53 AM EDT

The premise behind "Baghdad High" is sort of like what might happen if somebody made a teen reality show in Iraq. Filmmakers gave four Baghdad teens video cameras to record their daily lives as students in a war zone.

Only one of the four young men featured in the film was able to travel to Traverse City when it screened Friday night at the Old Town Playhouse. So, at the suggestion of an audience member, somebody grabbed a video camera and the crowd was filmed giving a long and boisterous standing ovation.

The video has been posted on YouTube so that the young men in Iraq can feel the love.

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2008 Traverse City Film Festival

Film Festival Outtakes: 08/04/2008

Sights and sounds from the Film Festival.
Continued ...
Aug 4, 2008 12:00 pm
Moore shares some life lessons

A laid-back, more comfortable side of Michael Moore came through in the final panel discussion at the Traverse City Film Festival, as he reminisced with some old friends and co-workers about what it took to pull his films together.
Continued ...
Aug 4, 2008 11:48 am
Roll the Credits: Film Festival wraps up

Traverse City Film Festival founder Michael Moore gave the audience two surprises at Sunday's "Mike's Surprise": a special screening of his 2002 live stage show in London and one of local resident Adam Ziegler proposing to girlfriend Erynn Rademacher — both of who were in the audience — in front of the State Theatre.
Continued ...
Aug 3, 2008 10:46 pm 3 Photos
10:18 p.m.: Festival award winners announced

Winners of the jury awards from the 2008 Traverse City Film Festival have been announced.
Continued ...
Aug 3, 2008 10:31 pm
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Crowd rewarded with wave from Madonna

They gathered for hours, waiting for a moment that lasted just five minutes. But what an important five minutes it was. Madonna, headliner of the fourth annual Traverse City Film Festival, stepped out of a sport-utility vehicle about 7:15 p.m. Saturday under the lights of the State Theatre downtown, as hundreds of fans screamed and snapped pictures.
Continued ...
Updated Aug 3, 2008 10:00 am 3 Photos
Madonna: film was 'journey of lifetime'

World-famous superstar Madonna made a warm and much-welcomed return to her home state. quot;There's a lot of poetic things about me being here ...," Madonna told a packed State Theatre crowd Saturday night. "You know what they say. You can take the girl out of Michigan, but you can't take the Michigan out of the girl."
Continued ...
Updated Aug 3, 2008 10:01 am 3 Photos
What's funny? At this panel, almost anything

Comedy is a serious business. What's offensive, what's funny and the fine line in between was tackled by Saturday's Film Festival "All-Star Comedy Panel" in front of another large crowd at the City Opera House downtown.
Continued ...
Updated Aug 3, 2008 10:01 am
Sunday's Film Festival schedule

Traverse City Film Festival schedule for Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008.
Continued ...
Updated Aug 3, 2008 10:01 am
Traverse City welcomes megastar Madonna

A packed movie house will see the queen of reinvention in person, but all of Traverse City has caught Madonna mania. The entertainment superstar, singer, tabloid fixture, trend-setter, philanthropist, Michigan native and Traverse City Film Festival headliner is scheduled to introduce her documentary "I Am Because We Are" at an 8 p.m. screening tonight at the downtown State Theatre.
Continued ...
Aug 2, 2008 9:51 am 2 Photos
Friday, August 1, 2008
Film takes aim at religions

The name of the movie "Religulous" pretty much describes how the filmmakers view organized religion. Combining the name of what many people hold dear with the word ridiculous may seem like box-office poison, yet its two showings at the Traverse City Film Festival were the first to sell out -- not counting Madonna's film. And director Larry Charles and star Bill Maher expect it to do well in multiplexes everywhere.
Continued ...
Updated Aug 2, 2008 9:31 am
Donahue panel takes a political turn

Michael Moore's Friday film discussion segued into a politically-charged anti-war rally. Moore and his guest panelist, former television talk show host Phil Donahue, related candid personal experiences and vented their frustrations in crossing paths with the country's corporate media.
Continued ...
Updated Aug 2, 2008 9:31 am 1 Photo
Businesses help set tone for festival

If "just great movies" are the main attraction at the Traverse City Film Festival, downtown display windows celebrating cinema and its stars are helping to set the mood for the event.
Continued ...
Updated Aug 2, 2008 9:31 am 1 Photo
Saturday's Film Festival schedule

Traverse City Film Festival schedule for Saturday, Aug. 2, 2008.
Continued ...
Updated Aug 2, 2008 9:31 am
Film Festival Outtakes: 08/02/2008

Continued ...
Updated Aug 2, 2008 9:32 am
Friday's Film Festival schedule

Traverse City Film Festival schedule for Friday, Aug. 1, 2008.
Continued ...
Aug 1, 2008 9:02 am
Thursday, July 31, 2008
East meets West at film festival

The title pretty much says it all. "Movies from People who want to Kill Us." The new, tongue-in-cheek category at this year's Traverse City Film Festival may poke fun at the American perspective on Arab culture and its people, but five movies under the title are expected to give attendees something more to reflect on.
Continued ...
Updated Aug 1, 2008 9:56 am
Panel discussion is take on terrorism

Filmmakers whose movies captured life and war in Iraq shared their insights with a Traverse City audience. An eight-member panel of documentary filmmakers gathered Thursday during the Traverse City Film Festival to sound off on the topic "Who Are These Terrorists, and Why Do They Make Movies?" But a packed audience at the City Opera House gleaned more than just a look into the mind of Middle East terrorists.
Continued ...
Updated Aug 1, 2008 9:57 am
Son chronicles father's persecution

Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was blacklisted during the post-World War II red scare and spent years selling screenplays under assumed names. Now his son Christopher Trumbo is here to present "Trumbo," his own movie about his late father, telling the tale of that part of his life through letters his father wrote.
Continued ...
Updated Aug 1, 2008 9:57 am 1 Photo
Festival-goers snatch up T-shirts

Olivia Jankoski came to last year's Traverse City Film Festival with her family from New Jersey and bought a film festival sweater. This year the 11-year-old is on the other side of the counter, helping to sell film festival merchandise.
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Updated Aug 1, 2008 9:57 am 1 Photo
Film Festival Outtakes: 08/01/2008

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Updated Aug 1, 2008 9:57 am
Review: 'Man on Wire' is a wild ride

Philippe Petit is alive. Alive and quite well, in fact, nearing 60 but exhibiting the strength and enthusiasm of a man half his age. That in itself is a bit of a miracle, considering the myriad death-defying acts the French high-wire artist has pulled off over the past four decades.
Continued ...
Updated Aug 1, 2008 10:01 am 1 Photo
Film Festival lets kids in on the act

From workshops to free, nightly movies at the Open Space to student film discussions, this year's festival offers several opportunities for young people to get involved.
Continued ...
Jul 31, 2008 9:05 am 2 Photos
Film documents 'real-life' Spinal Tap

Canadian heavy metal band Anvil, hailed as a "real-life Spinal Tap," will visit the Traverse City Film Festival Friday and Saturday nights to play short sets following the screening of a documentary of the band's career.
Continued ...
Jul 31, 2008 9:04 am 1 Photo
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Panel looks at state's film industry

The economic impact the film industry on both the Grand Traverse area and the state was the topic of discussion Wednesday during the Traverse City Film Festival's opening panel discussion "Front and Vine: Showing Movies at the State, Making Movies in Michigan."
Continued ...
Jul 30, 2008 9:59 pm

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