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July 29, 2005Anti-Moore festival to openTraverse Bay Freedom FilmFest debuts todayBY BECKY KALAJIANSpecial to the Record-Eagle TRAVERSE CITY - The Traverse Bay Freedom FilmFest, touted by organizers as a "counter festival announced in response to Michael Moore," opens at noon today at the Park Place Hotel with a red-carpet celebration complete with veterans, keynote speakers, and an old high school classmate of Moore's. The opening ceremonies will include a live rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" and a brief introduction by emcee Greg Marshall, a disc jockey from Petoskey. Festival organizers have invited Battle of the Bulge veterans as well as soldiers on leave or discharged recently as guests of honor. There are guest speakers prior to many of the films being shown, including Lt. Cmdr. Joe Cooper, an aviation consultant on a 10-day leave from Iraq, and actress Morgan Brittany, who played Katherine Wentworth on "Dallas". The two-day festival is free to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis and features old films as well as new politically conservative independent features. Spearheaded by Suttons Bay resident Genie Aldrich and Hollywood actress Cheryl Felicia Rhoads, the festival is meant to showcase "upbeat films about life in the United States," said Aldrich. Kevin Leffler, who attended Davison High School with Moore in the early 1970s, will be on hand to show his film trailer, "Shooting Michael Moore". The documentary features interviews with people from Davison, a small town near Flint, who knew Moore in his younger years. "Michael Moore Hates America" is another documentary-style film about Moore being shown on Friday. According to Jim Hubbard, president of American Film Renaissance, " the Dallas-based conservative film promotions company serving as sponsor, Michael Moore Hates America" is not "negative - just misunderstood. "The film's title is so controversial," said Hubbard, "but the film is uplifting." Hubbard describes the movie as one that "explores the ethics in documentary filmmaking and reflects (the director's) view of America." He added that the film received two thumbs up from the famous film critic duo Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper. In total, nine movies will be shown - four today, five on Saturday. Friday's lineup at the Park Place is consists of recently released documentaries with distinctly conservative undertones, like a feature on the Reagan years and a modern-day Joan of Arc tale. Following each documentary, organizers plan on having people who worked on some of the films there for a question and answer period with the audience. Saturday's offering at the Horizon Cinema 10 includes "Charlotte's Web," "Top Gun" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Festival co-founder Rhoads will introduce the Marlon Brando classic "On the Waterfront" at 4 p.m.
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