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August 5, 2005
Die hard movie fan sees a film in every time slotFROM STAFF REPORTSFeedback wanted Traverse City Film Festival founders and steering committee members are looking for feedback from those who attended this year’s festival as they begin planning for year two. One of the big questions is when to hold it - in the summertime like this year or at some other time? You can send your thoughts and suggestions to the Record-Eagle. We’ll be writing about what people have to say and passing the comments on to Festival planners. Write to: Film Festival Feedback, Traverse City Record-Eagle, 120 W. Front, Traverse City, MI 49685; fax to 946-8632; email to kgibbons@ That's right, every single possible time that a movie was showing, Thompson was there. He also volunteered his professional expertise to help with installation of the projection and sound equipment, and renovation at the State Theatre. Thompson was among the 50,000 admissions festival officials counted in both the paid tickets as well as at the free nightly showings at the Open Space, where attendance topped 6,000 each evening. "It was a success beyond anything we had imagined," said festival founder and Oscar-winner Michael Moore earlier this week. "For a city that has a population of only 20,000, to have 50,000 admissions at a film festival here, words can't describe how we feel." Thompson, an electrician who lives in Kingsley, has been going to film festivals for years. He and wife Barb McConnaughey have attended one called Cinefest in Sudbury, Ontario every September. They go to the East Lansing Film Festival, and to the Roger Ebert Festival held each April in Champagne-Urbana, Illinois. They've been to one in Saugatuck and another in Ann Arbor. Thompson said he's loved movies since he was 10 or 12, when in around 1955, he saw his first movie theater film in East Lansing. It was "Make Mine Mink" with Peter Sellers. His top favorite movies last week included "Land of Plenty," "The Edukators" and "My Summer of Love." He also enjoyed "The Baxter" and "Czech Dream." He liked "Time Out," but thought it was a little long. "I thought the movies were very good," he said, "and a really good variety of movies." Asked for feedback as to what he liked and might suggest as improvements for future years, Thompson made the following observations. - He liked the fact that most of the movies had more than one showing. "Usually when I go to a film festival, there are some things I want to see that I can't see," he said. "There are three or four showing at a time and at most of the other festivals, each movie is only shown once." - Instead of individual movie tickets, he'd like to see a pass sold that would give access to all of the films. "That's what they do at the other festivals," he said. "They just sell so many passes." - He liked that it was held in the summer. Moving it to September could conflict with other film festivals including those in Sudbury and Toronto. In April, it could go up against festivals in East Lansing and Ebert's in Illinois. He suggested keeping Traverse City's in July, or maybe August. "I know a lot of people are vacationing," he said. "They wouldn't be able to come before school was out, or after school started." - Bring on some animation, he suggested. "There weren't any animated films in this festival, and there weren't any shorts," he said. "At most of the other festivals I go to, they will have a group of short films together that makes the length about that of a feature, and they'll show that group at one time." - Thompson commended the festival for offering free nightly films at the Open Space. He suggested organizers also consider offering a free Saturday morning film for families at an indoor venue, as he said both the Ebert and Sudbury festivals do. Meanwhile, Thompson is excited that festival organizers are planning to come back next year. "It's just wonderful that Michael Moore came along with all of his connections and put it together, and a lot of other local people, John Williams and Doug Stanton," he said. "They really did a fantastic job in little bit of time."
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