By Brooks Vanderbush
Celebrating A Decade of ‘Just Great Movies’ (click here)
TRAVERSE CITY – You may not realize it, (click here) but the Traverse City Film Festival has already launched its 10th season. In fact, the celebrations began on July 20 in Manistee at the Vogue Theatre. From there, the party continued onto the Petoskey Cinema, the Charlevoix Cinema, the Garden Theatre in Frankfort, the Elk Rapids Cinema, and the Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay. These stops last week served to offer the region a preview of 2014’s Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF)....
The Traverse City Film Festival, which drove the rebirth of Front Street and it's continued success in growing a local economy, is nothing short of a phenomena. Why do I state that? Because the local economy, the thriving of documentaries and the need for 'people to know and be entertained' has driven that local economy all the way out to I-75 at Grayling. I saw it happen all these ten years.
The rest of the phenomena didn't stop at I-75. It was the drive to open old, boarded up theaters all over the State of Michigan. The movement is giving birth to local economies. It is truly a phenomena giving life back to Main Street.
This festival is more American than America. Don't miss it. It has an education classroom, some of the best talent in the business, a Kids Fest which costs parents nothing for the outdoor venue and simply $1.00 for each attendee at the daily movie. The festival has grown in magical ways this year, including movies on boats and auctions at cities that inhabit the bay near "The State Theater." Hope you can attend.
July 23, 2014
By Tom Long
Detroit News Film Critic
In its first year, 2005, (click here) the Traverse City Film Festival sold 50,000 tickets. It was a huge success.
Last year, it sold 119,000 tickets.
But ask festival founder-programmer Michael Moore how the festival has changed as it enters its 10th anniversary year, running Tuesday-Aug. 3, and he pauses before saying, “It hasn't.”
At least not in attitude.
“Honest to God, I know it sounds weird, but I feel I am programming it 10 years later the way I programmed it the first year,” says Moore, who handpicks all the festival's films. “There’s more of it, there’s the factual parts that are different ... but we’ve approached this with the same attitude.
“I have the same standards in my head. I’m thinking about the audience constantly. I’m thinking I want a variety of things for a variety of people,” says the Oscar-winning director of the documentaries “Bowling for Columbine,” “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Sicko.”...
