Just two months ago the State Theatre
was a black hole along an otherwise
bustling Front Street...
Sunday, July 31, 2005
The Economy of "The Truth" - Promises Kept
Just two months ago the State Theatre
was a black hole along an otherwise
bustling Front Street...
Debut Lived Up To It's Promise, ...
TC Film Festival debut lived up to its promise
Traverse City Record-Eagle
August 3, 2005
Just two months ago the State Theatre was a black hole along an otherwise bustling Front Street. Traverse City was bracing for another Cherry Festival and then a few more weeks of heat, humidity and visitors.
But straight out of a Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland song-and-dance grinner from the 1930s, filmmaker Michael Moore and some friends had an idea: Hey, gang, let's put on a film festival!
Boffo.
By the end of the day Sunday, thousands had flocked to the first-ever Traverse City Film Festival to watch a four-day bill featuring 31 films, including seven world premiers, in three venues.
As many as 6,000 people a night crowded the Open Space for four nights of free movies on a giant, inflatable screen under the stars.
The State had been scrubbed and polished and willed back to life. And the feeling around downtown was as electric as the old theater's refurbished marquee, ablaze in its former glory.
It was a remarkable achievement, and not the least for the absolutely palpable feeling of camaraderie among the hundreds of people (and dozens of local businesses) who volunteered their time, effort, material and money to make it happen.
It was a community event in the most basic sense; the community created it, and it created a community.
From early June, when the whole thing was first proposed, a group that would grow to about 30 people started bringing the State back to life. They scrubbed floors and toilets, washed windows and patched holes. Painters painted, and electricians brought the place back to life.
When the big weekend finally came, about 400 people volunteered to pop popcorn, take tickets, sweep the floors and generally do whatever it took to make the festival a success.
Moore and his steering committee stuck to their promise to keep politics out and focus on one thing - great movies.
The "alternative" Freedom FilmFest mounted by a Suttons Bay woman and supported by conservatives in Texas proved to be little more than a trailer, three minutes of sound and fury.
Then to learn that they had to turn off one of their highly touted films, "Michael Moore Hates America," about 10 minutes in because it was full of profanity including the F-word? Turns out there are two versions of this film, one with "filth," as front woman Genie Aldrich said, and one for families.
Had Aldrich seen the film? Either version?
The shrill attacks by Aldrich on Moore - and by proxy anyone who didn't think the TC festival was the work of Satan - actually helped bring the rest of the community together.
People from across all political and social boundaries rallied around the idea of movies for movies' sake and leaving politics at the door.
Traverse City probably surprised itself last weekend. Retirees, teen-agers, yuppies, hippies, baby boomers, gen-Xers, tree-huggers and business types found themselves shoulder to shoulder watching Jaws at the Open Space or "Mad Hot Ballroom" on opening night.
No sniping, no griping. They were there to see great movies, and that's what they got. And they were proud of what their community had pulled off.
As we start counting the days to next year's festival, there are things to think about.
What next for the State Theatre, now that is has been awoken, at least for a time, from the dead?
Is there a better time than the end of July, when every hotel and motel room in the region is already booked anyway?
Big-time kudos to Moore, Doug Stanton, John Robert Williams and their steering committee. They did what they promised, with a little help from some friends. Mickey and Judy would be proud.
Traverse City Record-Eagle
August 3, 2005
Just two months ago the State Theatre was a black hole along an otherwise bustling Front Street. Traverse City was bracing for another Cherry Festival and then a few more weeks of heat, humidity and visitors.
But straight out of a Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland song-and-dance grinner from the 1930s, filmmaker Michael Moore and some friends had an idea: Hey, gang, let's put on a film festival!
Boffo.
By the end of the day Sunday, thousands had flocked to the first-ever Traverse City Film Festival to watch a four-day bill featuring 31 films, including seven world premiers, in three venues.
As many as 6,000 people a night crowded the Open Space for four nights of free movies on a giant, inflatable screen under the stars.
The State had been scrubbed and polished and willed back to life. And the feeling around downtown was as electric as the old theater's refurbished marquee, ablaze in its former glory.
It was a remarkable achievement, and not the least for the absolutely palpable feeling of camaraderie among the hundreds of people (and dozens of local businesses) who volunteered their time, effort, material and money to make it happen.
It was a community event in the most basic sense; the community created it, and it created a community.
From early June, when the whole thing was first proposed, a group that would grow to about 30 people started bringing the State back to life. They scrubbed floors and toilets, washed windows and patched holes. Painters painted, and electricians brought the place back to life.
When the big weekend finally came, about 400 people volunteered to pop popcorn, take tickets, sweep the floors and generally do whatever it took to make the festival a success.
Moore and his steering committee stuck to their promise to keep politics out and focus on one thing - great movies.
The "alternative" Freedom FilmFest mounted by a Suttons Bay woman and supported by conservatives in Texas proved to be little more than a trailer, three minutes of sound and fury.
Then to learn that they had to turn off one of their highly touted films, "Michael Moore Hates America," about 10 minutes in because it was full of profanity including the F-word? Turns out there are two versions of this film, one with "filth," as front woman Genie Aldrich said, and one for families.
Had Aldrich seen the film? Either version?
The shrill attacks by Aldrich on Moore - and by proxy anyone who didn't think the TC festival was the work of Satan - actually helped bring the rest of the community together.
People from across all political and social boundaries rallied around the idea of movies for movies' sake and leaving politics at the door.
Traverse City probably surprised itself last weekend. Retirees, teen-agers, yuppies, hippies, baby boomers, gen-Xers, tree-huggers and business types found themselves shoulder to shoulder watching Jaws at the Open Space or "Mad Hot Ballroom" on opening night.
No sniping, no griping. They were there to see great movies, and that's what they got. And they were proud of what their community had pulled off.
As we start counting the days to next year's festival, there are things to think about.
What next for the State Theatre, now that is has been awoken, at least for a time, from the dead?
Is there a better time than the end of July, when every hotel and motel room in the region is already booked anyway?
Big-time kudos to Moore, Doug Stanton, John Robert Williams and their steering committee. They did what they promised, with a little help from some friends. Mickey and Judy would be proud.
Film festival boosts downtown business
Film festival boosts downtown business
Restaurants booked with reservations
TRAVERSE CITY - Lilli and Jim Shea exemplify the boon that business owners hoped would come with the Traverse City Film Festival. The couple from Marinette, Wis., read about the film lineup in their local newspaper, quickly booked a trip on the SS Badger car ferry and reserved a room at a Traverse City bed and breakfast.
"I read about this and said 'We have to do it,'" Lilli said. "Our goal is to go back and encourage other people to do it."
The Sheas purchased fistfuls of movie tickets Friday morning and rested on a bench outside the State Theatre while pondering which eateries and shops they might frequent between shows.
Local businesses, especially those downtown, said film festival traffic provided a boost in an already-busy time of year.
"Our reservation books are jam-packed every single night," Jessica Novorolsky said Friday afternoon while greeting diners at Amical, next door to the State Theatre. "We're usually busy, but yesterday we got busy at 11:30 and didn't calm down until 3:30."
The scene at Poppycock's has been much the same, said staffer Lindsey Muller.
"Thursday, we had a wait list all night," she said. "It was like a Friday or Saturday night."
Merchants say the festival is bringing in the kind of crowds they like - the kind that spends cash while they're here.
"There's a ton of people in town, and they've got money," said Mike Nolan, owner of a tobacco shop downtown. "It's not like the Cherry Festival."
Downtown nightspots are teeming with activity before and after the shows, workers said. Dave Brownlee is a manager at the U&I Lounge on Front Street across from the State Theatre and says he's "definitely" seen an influx of business from the film festival.
"We're getting people before they go to the movies and after ... (when) the movies let out, business picks right up," he said.
The event also creates a buzz among the clientele, he said.
"The other fun thing is the rumor mill - who's in town and who people saw," Brownlee said.
North Peak Brewing Company manager Ryder Anderson said the restaurant, which typically sees a lot of tourists, has seated more locals during the festival.
Wally Green of the Green House Cafe said people waiting for a seat at Thursday's panel discussion at the City Opera House popped in and out of the long line to grab a bite.
"It's working," Green said about festival organizers' hopes that the event's success would trickle downtown.
City officials said the 500-plus space downtown parking deck was nearly full on Friday - almost 200 vehicles above normal - and the downtown's streets and sidewalks seem just as packed.
"It's just been amazing - the number of people that are down here for it," said Rob Bacigalupi, deputy director of the city's Downtown Development Authority.
Erika Korndorfer, a server at Amical, said dinner tables are abuzz with patrons eager to talk about the films they've seen.
"That's all they talk about," she said. "They were just so pumped. It's really exciting."
Restaurants booked with reservations
TRAVERSE CITY - Lilli and Jim Shea exemplify the boon that business owners hoped would come with the Traverse City Film Festival. The couple from Marinette, Wis., read about the film lineup in their local newspaper, quickly booked a trip on the SS Badger car ferry and reserved a room at a Traverse City bed and breakfast.
"I read about this and said 'We have to do it,'" Lilli said. "Our goal is to go back and encourage other people to do it."
The Sheas purchased fistfuls of movie tickets Friday morning and rested on a bench outside the State Theatre while pondering which eateries and shops they might frequent between shows.
Local businesses, especially those downtown, said film festival traffic provided a boost in an already-busy time of year.
"Our reservation books are jam-packed every single night," Jessica Novorolsky said Friday afternoon while greeting diners at Amical, next door to the State Theatre. "We're usually busy, but yesterday we got busy at 11:30 and didn't calm down until 3:30."
The scene at Poppycock's has been much the same, said staffer Lindsey Muller.
"Thursday, we had a wait list all night," she said. "It was like a Friday or Saturday night."
Merchants say the festival is bringing in the kind of crowds they like - the kind that spends cash while they're here.
"There's a ton of people in town, and they've got money," said Mike Nolan, owner of a tobacco shop downtown. "It's not like the Cherry Festival."
Downtown nightspots are teeming with activity before and after the shows, workers said. Dave Brownlee is a manager at the U&I Lounge on Front Street across from the State Theatre and says he's "definitely" seen an influx of business from the film festival.
"We're getting people before they go to the movies and after ... (when) the movies let out, business picks right up," he said.
The event also creates a buzz among the clientele, he said.
"The other fun thing is the rumor mill - who's in town and who people saw," Brownlee said.
North Peak Brewing Company manager Ryder Anderson said the restaurant, which typically sees a lot of tourists, has seated more locals during the festival.
Wally Green of the Green House Cafe said people waiting for a seat at Thursday's panel discussion at the City Opera House popped in and out of the long line to grab a bite.
"It's working," Green said about festival organizers' hopes that the event's success would trickle downtown.
City officials said the 500-plus space downtown parking deck was nearly full on Friday - almost 200 vehicles above normal - and the downtown's streets and sidewalks seem just as packed.
"It's just been amazing - the number of people that are down here for it," said Rob Bacigalupi, deputy director of the city's Downtown Development Authority.
Erika Korndorfer, a server at Amical, said dinner tables are abuzz with patrons eager to talk about the films they've seen.
"That's all they talk about," she said. "They were just so pumped. It's really exciting."
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