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08/01/2006
Cinema enthusiasts brave heat for opener
Actor Jeff Daniels and Gov. Jennifer Granholm give Michigan’s former governor, William Milliken, an ovation Monday during the Film Festival's opening ceremonies. TRAVERSE CITY — The Traverse City Film Festival kicked off Monday afternoon in sweltering heat, but that didn't stop movie enthusiasts and the curious from crowding Front Street near the State Theatre for a 2:30 p.m. opening ceremony featuring Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, actor-director Jeff Daniels and festival founder Michael Moore. As a band played tunes including the University of Michigan Fight Song, onlookers fanned themselves in the 98-degree heat with festival programs, and volunteers passed out free bottled water and sprayed the wilting and the sweating with more of the stuff. "Welcome to the Traverse City Film Festival," shouted Moore, to cheers and whistles. "It's a beautiful, cool day in northern Michigan." Lynn Wrobel of Sterling Heights watched the festivities from the shady side of the street with her husband, Mike, and their 16-year-old son, Matthew. "We were up here last year for the festival by accident so this year we planned our vacation around it," said Wrobel, 50. "We just wanted to be here when everything opened." At 3:30 or 4 p.m., the line began forming at the theater for the 6 p.m. opening night film, "Pittsburgh," one of two screenings of the film on Monday, said concessions and merchandise captain Jan Hinds. As they queued up, movie-goers snapped photos, ate hastily grabbed dinners and looked around to see if they could spot "celebrities" like former U.S. Sen. Donald Reigle, who wore a cap from Flint in honor of Flint native Moore. Traverse City friends Nick Pilarski and Robby Peters, both 20, shared a South-of-the-Border pizza as they waited for the doors to open. A Northwestern Michigan College student and film enthusiast, Peters said he has tickets to 25 festival films including the opener, a part-documentary starring Jeff Goldblum. "It's a good way to open the festival," said Pilarski, a student at Chicago's Theatre Conservatory home for the summer. Shannon Pennington was attending the film with friend and co-worker Katelyn Zachritz and Pennington's mother, Lynne, of Asheville, N.C. "I'm a transplanted film festival patron," said Pennington, who moved to Traverse City this year from Calgary, Alberta, famous for its own international film festival. Some of the earliest in line, who withstood more than an hour and a half in the sun, were rewarded with a personal welcome by Moore. Wearing his habitual dark T-shirt and shorts, the filmmaker stood outside the theater doors to shake hands, sign autographs and crack jokes about the heat as film-goers filed in. "Free showers inside," he quipped. "We have the fire hoses going." High temperatures were a factor in the decision to open the doors early, Hinds said. "We're letting them in because of the heat," she said. "(It) was affecting a lot of them." Monday night's film was preceded by a "short" by 10-year-old Suttons Bay filmmaker Olivia Allen-Wickler and followed by a question-and-answer period with "Pittsburgh" co-director Chris Bradley. Before it began, Moore told the sold-out audience that the movie was being show on "the largest portable indoor screen in America." "For the people in the front now, we have Dramamine and Advil," he added. At the Hagerty Center, partyers sporting hot-pink wristbands sipped local wines and punch and nibbled on cheese and crackers, bagel chips and artichoke dip, veggies and fruit, and chocolate fondue as dance music played. Candles and contemporary flower arrangements adorned round tables draped with neon green, pink and orange satin cloths. "It's a lot brighter, a little more festive than our usual events," said banquet server Julie Patterson. Traverse City social worker Pat Sparks and daughters Emma Cauchy, 18, and Caitlin Cauchy, 22, wore elegant black dresses for the event — the only one Emma could attend. "I can't see any of the movies because I have to work," she said.
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