|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
08/03/2007Film Festival OuttakesA couple of eagle-eyed Record-Eagle readers, no play on words intended, wrote to point out that the Traverse City Film Festival was No. 10 in yahoo's list of Top 10 searches Thursday. Tim McGraw was No. 1, followed by QuakeCon 2007, Frisbee, Etta James, 2007 Women's British Open, Pandas, X Games, Robert Schwartzman and Meteor Showers. • Michael Moore echoed the words of Ronald Reagan before the start of Wednesday night's "Uncensored Borat and Beyond: An Evening with Larry Charles.” Trust but verify. Festival volunteers lined the sides of Lars Hockstad Auditorium and cast a watchful eye over the crowd — some even used night vision goggles. In the age of YouTube and camera phones, film festival volunteers took every precaution possible to protect some of Borat's signature, but secret, charades after receiving special permission from 20th Century Fox and Sacha Baron Cohen himself to show the material. Throughout the evening, Charles told stories of being chased by police and escaping across state lines, concepts gone wrong, and showed a few scenes that never found their way into the film. As an added bonus, attendees also saw a sneak peek of Charles' upcoming film with Bill Maher about organized religion around the world. Speaking of sneak peeks, a few people reported back that the program was more uncensored than they expected. One person said, "Borat gets a job as a 'male performer' in a porn movie. He doesn't actually 'perform,' but the two porn stars do ... everyone in the audience seemed to take it into stride, but seriously it was like watching a porn clip in a movie theater full of people.” • While introducing Thursday's panel of critics, Michael Moore told the crowd at the City Opera House he attended University of Michigan Flint for the lone year of his college education. When two or three people started clapping, he responded with a quizzical look and a question. "You're applauding for one year of college,” said Moore, as he and the audience shared a laugh. "I don't think that's a good example for the kids.” • A TV in the window of the Film Festival Box Office and Store donated by Max's Service in Traverse City has been getting a lot of attention. "The Max's TV is the one facing the street so lots of people stop and watch it for short periods of time,” said Box Office Manager Bryn Lynch. "It's usually a trailer that's caught their eye and they'll stand there for a few minutes to see what's going on, discussing it with their friends. "It even draws people into the building to inquire about the availability.” • "This is going to be shocking,” said John Robert Williams as he introduced the panel "Humor in Dark Times” on Wednesday. The lights dimmed and up popped video of none other than Michael Moore dressed in drag, wearing a long flowing white gown, being honored as the "Raining National Cherry Queen.” "Not since I won the Emmy Award for TV Nation have I been so honored,” Moore intoned dryly on the video. The spot is from 1996, when Moore participated in one of the infamous "Williams' Brothers” floats in the National Cherry Festival Cherry Royale Parade, which the Williams stopped doing a few years ago. They featured men dressed in drag in various themes. "Last year, (Michael) grabbed me by the back of my shirt and said 'Nobody is ever going to see this,'” Williams said. "It's going to be on YouTube tonight.” Compiled from Record-Eagle employees and readers. If you have a slice of life-type Film Festival story to share, please send it to: kgibbons@record-eagle.com
|
|
