Traverse City Film Festival

The Traverse City Film Festival is an annual film festival held at the end of July in Traverse City, Michigan. The festival was created as an annual event in 2005 to help “save one of America's few indigenous art forms—the cinema." The event was co-founded by Michael Moore, the Oscar-winning film director, well known for his anti-establishment films and documentaries such as Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine, and Roger & Me, along with author Doug Stanton and photographer John Robert Williams.

The mission of the Festival is to show "Just Great Movies" that represent excellence in filmmaking, particularly those rare independent films and documentaries by both noted and new filmmakers, that do not receive mainstream distribution. The Traverse City Film Festival is a non-profit organization, and is funded by businesses, community groups and individuals, in addition to ticket sales accumulated by various events. The Festival is headed by a committee of Michigan area filmmakers, writers, and creative professionals. Deb Lake has been the executive director of the Traverse City Film Festival since 2006, and is one of only three paid employees who work year round. About 3,000 volunteers come together each summer to devote their time and efforts to making the festival happen. Traverse City Film Festival also showcases all volunteer music, with over 60 regional artists featured in the 2016 event.

The 2005 Traverse City Film Festival was held July 27–31. The 5-day event featured many independent films, plus four classic films. The independent films were shown in three indoor venues in downtown Traverse City: the State Theatre, the Old Town Playhouse, and the City Opera House. In addition, each night, a classic film was shown on a giant inflatable screen along West Grand Traverse Bay in the city’s Open Space Park. Broken Flowers, a winner at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, was shown at the Traverse City Film Festival before being released to the general public. Other 2005 Traverse City Film Festival selections covered a gamut of film subjects ranging from period romances, unemployment, terrorism, among many other subjects.

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