Z At the Movies: Traverse City Film Festival Part 1

Posted by Jacob Ziegler on 08.11.2007

The Third Annual!

Z At the Movies: The Third Annual Traverse City Film Festival – Part 1

For the third straight year, the Traverse City Film Festival lived up to its motto of "just great movies." Festival founders Michael Moore, Doug Stanton, and John Robert Williams, along with the newest members of the Board of Directors Terry George and Larry Charles, brought 65 movies to five different venues over six days. I generally refer to these days as the best six days of the year.

While I was only able to actually attend the festival for three days, I made the most of them, by seeing 12 films and staying after for one question and answer session. The films themselves were broken down to 13 categories, and four panel discussions were held as well.

Once again the documentary genre was well represented, with 16 total entries. "No End in Sight" was the winner of both the Special Jury Prize and Audience Award Non-Fiction Film; it's level-headed look at the dilly of a pickle we've gotten ourselves into in Iraq made most of the attendees angry or frustrated. Other documentaries were also big hits, including "Nimrod Nation," "Deliver Us from Evil," "In the Shadow of the Moon," and "Please Vote for Me."

The TCFF once again had a small selection of films in the "overlooked and outstanding" category, for movies that deserved an audience it was never given a chance to earn. The Oscar-nominated "Notes on a Scandal," and "Little Children," as well as "Sherrybaby" and "The Situation" all thrilled Traverse City viewers, seeing these for the first time on the big screen.

Over twenty countries were represented at the Northern Michigan based festival. The United States had the most, of course, but France ("My Best Friend" and "Paris, J'Taime," and "The Valet," among others) and Germany (who gave us "The Lives of Others," the best film I saw at the festival, period) made significant contributions, as did China, Finland, Canada, Peru, and many other countries.

The festival kicked off with a ceremony for Birmingham, Michigan resident Christine Lahti, who was given the Michigan Filmmaker Award. She received the award from all five of the board directors, as well as former Michigan Governor William Milliken and Michigan Film Office Director Janet Lockwood.

The festival kicked off proper with three showings of "Once," which is getting more and more attention as it plays in more and more towns, on opening night Tuesday, and closed with two showings the French film "Moliere." A fifth venue was added this year, the Lars Hockstad space, where many quality films were shown. The TCFF once again offered four free movies down on the giant screen in the Traverse City Open Space; this year's offerings were "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Grease," "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," and "North by Northwest." This year's festival offered two Midnight Madness movies, Korea's "The Host," and New Zealand's "Black Sheep."

A real treat was the Q&A with directors Michael Moore, Chris Hegedus, and D.A. Pennebaker followed the one and only screening of Hegedus' and Nick Doob's documentary "God Spoke." Pennebaker appeared to be a spry 82, and Hegedus and Moore were passionate in talking about their films and efforts to get smaller films more exposure and into more theaters.

While Hollywood studios don't often release smaller films in smaller markets, the Traverse City Film Festival hopes to help buck those trends, and give some little seen gems a chance to connect with an audience.

I'll be back with Part Two of my look at the festival, which will be a detailed look at the particular films I saw!