The Traverse City Lip Dub, with a cast of thousands.
(Editor's note: Audio was withdrawn by YouTube as of Aug. 3; Full video now courtesy of Vimeo below.)
2011 Traverse City Film Festival
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Film Festival admissions outdo 2010
It's official: This year's Traverse City Film Festival was the most successful yet.
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Film Festival Outtakes: 08/01/2011
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'Mike's Surprise' gives Film Festival a literary twist
Michael Moore, the usually ubiquitous founder of the Traverse City Film Festival, surprised a festival audience with a reading from that yet-to-be-released memoir, a collection of nonfiction short stories.
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Everybody wants to be in movies
Scott Tompkins rattled off the names of locals who are or want to be filmmakers. Sixteen names later he paused to consider just how many people he overlooked. It seems one can't turn around in Traverse City without bumping into a high school film buff, college film major, enterprising film intern or working professional.
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Store’s window gives clues to movies
Front Street gift store Nifty Things is stumping shoppers with its movie-theme window display. The display in honor of the Traverse City Film Festival challenges customers and passers-by to guess all 10 movies represented in the window. The display is the handiwork of merchandiser and buyer Kathy Trilla and will be up for another week or so.
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State filmmaking 'ripped out of the ground’
Filmmakers discussed the Michigan Film Incentive and prospects of making more movies in the state during Saturday’s Film Festival panel.
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Outtakes: 07/31/11
Overheard from a technician: "No one makes gripping movies about projectionists. They should. We love to talk. We're alone so much of the time that when we do see people, we talk and talk and talk."
Continued ... - Saturday, July 30, 2011
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Kids Fest is fun for all ages
Samantha Steinebach and Salina Gillner waited patiently as the children in their care got their faces painted, then snapped photos of the results. It was the third day in a row that the Salvation Army summer day camp counselors brought their charges to the Traverse City Film Festival’s Kids Fest. Kids Fest is the newest addition to the film festival but already it has caught on with parents and other caretakers, said Marc Schollett.
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Panelists: Labor history ignored
May 1 has meaning in Europe and elsewhere. Schoolchildren overseas study the 1886 Haymarket Square riot in Chicago as the origin of international May Day observances. Parades and other celebrations honor workers and the labor movement — whose roots are linked to the intense labor clash. May Day in the United States is relatively unheralded. Its history and that of the labor movement in general are mostly lost. Friday's Traverse City Film Festival panel, "The Working Class Goes to the Movies," tackled those issues as well as delving into larger topics of equal rights and human dignity.
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Outtakes: 07/30/2011
Michael Moore, founder of the Traverse City Film Festival, will receive the 2011 Arts Legacy Award from ArtServe Michigan today. ArtServe is a statewide nonprofit arts advocacy organization. Moore will receive the award at a 6 p.m. ceremony. "Michael Moore's dedication to Michigan arts is unmistakable," said Jennifer Goulet, president of ArtServe Michigan.
Continued ... - Friday, July 29, 2011
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Movie is first product of fest's Cuban fund
Cuban filmmaker Ian Padron credits the people of Traverse City for helping fund his new feature at a crucial movie-making moment. His film "Habanastation" was scheduled for its first United States screening Thursday evening at the Traverse City Film Festival. Padron expressed gratitude for festival founder Michael Moore and the city hours before his film was to play before a sold-out audience at Lars Hockstad Auditorium. "Habanastation" is the first film to be co-produced using funds donated through the festival's Cuban Film Fund.
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Events keep local hotels booked solid
A trifecta of events is converging on northern Michigan this weekend, lighting up “no vacancy” signs at hotels throughout the region. The Traverse City Film Festival and Horse Shows by the Bay, which wraps up Sunday after five weeks, are joined by a relative newcomer to the busy summer season: the Cherry Bomb Lacrosse Tournament. Organizers said the tournament, which takes place at the TBAYS soccer fields on Keystone Road, is bringing more than 6,000 people to the already packed city. Participation has tripled since its launch in 2009.
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Filmmakers talk of passion, barriers
The 13 documentarians who gathered on stage at the City Opera House have one thing in common — passion about their stories. “It is an incredible privilege to be able to go into people’s lives and tell their story. I am thankful every day that I am filming,” said Heather Courtney, director of “Where Soldiers Come From,” a film that chronicles the four-year journey of a group of soldiers from the Upper Peninsula. She followed the men from enlistment to serving in Afghanistan and life after returning home. Courtney was part of a Thursday morning panel discussion at the City Opera House.
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Outtakes: 07/29/11
Organizers of the Traverse City Lip Dub now expect the video to be posted online Saturday, a couple days earlier than last announced. It also is being shown before a few films at the festival.
Continued ... - Thursday, July 28, 2011
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Badham comes to town
Mary Badham was 9 when she was hired to play Scout in the 1962 film "To Kill a Mockingbird" — too young to be aware of the civil rights movement going on around her in the South, too young to be on the studio set when the courtroom scenes were filmed. "I don't think we even saw scripts," said the former child actress, who auditioned for the smart-but-sassy role at a "cattle call" in her native Birmingham, Ala. "We were children, and in those days there were things deemed not appropriate for children to hear."
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Everyone loves Elmo — and the guy behind him
Kevin Clash may bring Elmo, the iconic Sesame Street character, to life but the veteran puppeteer knows his place. Speaking at a Wednesday morning panel session at the City Opera House, Clash noted that he becomes invisible when many children see Elmo. They run to the beloved furry, red puppet and hug it, talk directly to it. Elmo is alive and the man moving and talking for Elmo goes unnoticed. After nearly three decades as part of Sesame Street and a lifetime immersion into puppetry, this is the medium's magic.
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Outtakes: 07/28/11
Kevin Clash, the puppeteer featured in "Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey," put the brakes on post-film questions while he called "all the little kids" up to the front of the State Theatre so they could say hi to Elmo. About a dozen kids — and some adults and at least one film festival volunteer — got hugs and kisses from the "Sesame Street" favorite. Clash — and Elmo — then posed for pictures in the theater lobby.
Continued ... - Wednesday, July 27, 2011
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Movie lovers flock to downtown for opening
Karen Casebeer and Diane Bolton haven't missed a Traverse City Film Festival. This year, the festival's seventh, was no exception. Casebeer, of Northport, and Bolton, of Traverse City, plan to attend 11 movies and started with the opening Tuesday night screening at the State Theatre. It's the most films they've ever scheduled to view during a festival. "Everything we see here is a thoughtful movie," Casebeer said. The festival opened Tuesday with special movie screenings, a free film at the Open Space and a party on Front Street.
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Outtakes: 07/27/2011
Carol Taberski, a veteran volunteer for the Traverse City Film Festival, had a skirt made from all her T-shirts. "I've volunteered all seven years and can't get enough of the film festival," said Taberski, the registrar at Northwestern Michigan College. She's been an all-around volunteer, working in the box office, at Lars Hockstad, at Milliken Auditorium, passing out surveys, counting surveys and concessions.
Continued ... - Friday, July 15, 2011
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TC Lip Dub could feature thousands
The Day of the Dub is nearing.
Continued ... - Thursday, July 14, 2011
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TCFF Lip Dub Route
View the route the Traverse City Film Festival lip dub will take through Traverse City.
Continued ... - Friday, July 8, 2011
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2011 Film Fest to feature labor rights
Themes for this year's Traverse City Film Festival include labor rights, the 50th anniversary of the movie "To Kill A Mockingbird," the kickoff of a five-year celebration of the State Theatre's centennial and a salute to Roy Rogers.
Continued ... - Thursday, July 7, 2011
- Opening night movies for TCFF announced
- Friday, June 24, 2011
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Film festival details are coming together
The July 26-31 Traverse City Film Festival brings a few changes — another venue and higher ticket prices — and fresh projects such as a kids festival and a community-wide lip dub video.
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