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July 1, 2005Looking for info on this year's Film Festival?See our Traverse City Film Festival pageon the Record-Eagle's Area Guide
Coming attractionsMichael Moore announces film lineup todayByRecord-Eagle staff writer For more info on the Film Festival lineup, read: One hot lineup: Moore deilivers for first Traverse City film extravaganza - July 1, 2005 Traverse City Flim Festival Schedule - July 1, 2005 Moore will greet ticket-buyers at Bravo!, a fine-arts gift shop on Front Street, when the store opens at 10 a.m. He'll then publicly release the lineup of 30 films to be shown at four locations during the July 27-31 festival. The festival is a vehicle to show relatively unknown movies to a wider audience, Moore said. "The whole point is we're trying to save this art form," said Moore, who owns a residence in Antrim County. On tap are foreign and domestic films, comedies, dramas and fictional films, as well as documentaries. The Traverse City Film Festival is being billed as a chance to see a wide variety of films, some being shown for the first time in the area, the state or country. The festival has attracted media attention from as far as Great Britain, and Moore invited directors and screenwriters here for workshops. He also expects other celebrities to make the trip to Traverse City. Local merchants and residents are interested to see how the event shakes out. Paul Danielson, owner of Trattoria Stella restaurant in Traverse City, believes the festival will help businesses by attracting more visitors and raising the city's profile. He said it also will benefit residents. "Any kind of cultural event where people get out of the house and meet each other strengthens our community and makes it a better place to live," he said. Nationally known film critic Roger Ebert doesn't know if it will rival established festivals. "It will not grow into something like Sundance because Sundance already exists," he wrote in an e-mail response to questions from the Record-Eagle, referring to the Sundance Film Festival, established in 1981 by actor and director Robert Redford. "It will create the experience within the room that an audience exists for good films, which is encouraging to the viewers, who sometimes feel as if they are the only people they know who are curious about good films," he wrote. Moore said he hopes the festival grows over the years and he hopes to eventually have independent movie makers submit films for festival screenings. That will help directors struggling like he was before "Roger & Me" brought him acclaim in 1989. "If it weren't for film festivals, it never would've seen the light of day," he said. Traverse City won't simply be a repeat of other festivals, he said. "Sundance gets between 1,000 and 2,000 submissions a year and only shows 100 or so," he said. "That doesn't mean the other 900 films aren't any good. There needs to be another outlet and this, perhaps in coming years, can be that." It could also attract a different type of tourism for the community. Carol Potter, who used to promote tourism in Cadillac before moving to Park City, Utah, home of Sundance, said that city changes during the festival. The city of 7,000 inhabitants swells by about 40,000 and the "streets are jammed with people," she said. Some are there for the movies and "tons come up from Salt Lake City to celebrity watch," she said. She ran into actors Kevin Bacon and Michael Keaton during the festival this past winter and merchants tell her it's a busy time for them. After the festival, the town goes back to being its usual self, with fewer star sightings and smaller crowds, she said. See Related Stories: Moore deilivers for first Traverse City film extravaganza - July 1, 2005 Michael Moore hopes actors will visit Traverse City Film Fest - June 16, 2005 TC Film Festival: Residents share noise, crowd concerns - June 8, 2005 Coming soon: Classics; Michael Moore backs TC film festival - June 4, 2005 See Related Editorial: TC Film Festival plans a great fit for the area - June 12, 2005
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