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July 28, 2005Tickets remain for Moore's top 5 'founder's favorites'He says they focus on class and economyFROM STAFF REPORTSTRAVERSE CITY - Of the 31 movies being showcased during the Traverse City Film Festival, which are Michael Moore's favorites? The ones that still have the most tickets left. Of all of the screenings on the five-day schedule, showings for "The Ax," "Land of Plenty," "The Edukators," "My Summer of Love" and "The Talent Given Us" have more tickets than others remaining for sale. Those happen to be the festival founder and Oscar-winning filmmaker's favorites. "There's a kind of thread that runs through these films," Moore said. "The thread is it's about class and the economy and the changing world that we live in." "The Ax" is about a man who loses his job and after two years, has yet to find another. He proceeds to systematically eliminate some of the competition. Set in France, it's a dark comedy from director Costa-Gavras, who Moore described as "one of the greatest living directors in the world." "It's not a violent film, though it sounds that way," Moore said. "It's the thing I like about any great movie - you never know what's going to happen next." "Land of Plenty" is what Moore described as the rare film that tells a story grounded in post-Sept. 11 culture. It's about a security-obsessed man who drives around on the lookout for terrorists. "It's one of the films that's in the festival where I had tears in my eyes at the end of it." The German "The Edukators" was the one Moore said gave his "Fahrenheit 9/11" the most competition for grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival, though Moore's won. Moore didn't get a chance to see it himself until a few months ago. "The Edukators" is about three 20-something have-nots who break into the homes of the well-to-do and rearrange the furniture, but don't steal anything. "My Summer of Love" may be the most misunderstood among Moore's favorites, he said. A story about two teenage girls, one from a wealthy family and one working class, it does include the girls exploring a possible romantic relationship. But Moore said focusing on that misses the point. "Everybody is focusing on the lesbian thing," he said. "Number one, they aren't lesbians, it's not a lesbian love story - they are two young girls who at one point in the film experiment with each other. "But the film is really about the wealthy girl essentially uses the working class girl as her plaything. It's an allegory for those in power expecting those who are not in power to be at their beck and call." "The Talent Given Us" was made by Andrew Wagner for $30,000 with a two-man crew. Wagner, who also wrote the script, got his parents and sisters to act in the story of a family traveling from Manhattan to Los Angeles to visit a son/brother. Moore said the way it plays, it's hard to tell what's real and what's fiction. Besides that, he said, it's "a fun, well-acted wonderful story."
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