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08/04/2007
Making a case for realityDocumentaries focus of Opera House sessionTRAVERSE CITY — Michael Moore wants to change reality so movie-goers can see more of it. "The public likes nonfiction,” Moore said. "... The public likes to see the real things or the things they perceive to be real.” The founder of the Traverse City Film Festival threw out some of his ideas to improve nonfiction film distribution at Friday's panel on the state of documentaries. Moore lamented sagging box office ticket sales for documentaries this year industry-wide and made a case for cineplexes to dedicate a screen to that genre so the public could see more of what they crave: reality. "We need something that says to Hollywood and New York that this is something people want,” Moore said. "... I disagree that the public is stupid and that they want the same old crap.” He discussed the idea of a "Traverse City Statement,” which would emulate the infamous Port Huron Statement laid out as the defining document of the New Left in 1962. Moore said the Traverse City Statement would unite filmmakers and audiences to show movie theaters that documentaries can sell at the box office. "One of the challenges I want to put forth this week is to join people together,” said Moore, motioning to a close-to-capacity City Opera House. "This room is packed with people. I want our own kind of Port Huron Statement to help shift this thing.” Filmmakers Daniel B. Gold, Chris Hegedus, Judith Helfand, John Laurence, Brett Morgen and D.A. Pennebaker joined Moore in debating the future of documentaries. Many visitors to the film festival waited in line for more than an hour to get into the Opera House. At 10:30 a.m., a half an hour before the panel began, the line to enter the Opera House stretched around the corner of Front and Union streets, and those in the audience joined in the lively discussion. "I enjoyed the sense of people having the courage to tell the stories that need to be told,” said Ann Layton, who teaches in Grand Rapids. Part of documentaries' success hinges on a turnaround in directorial approach to shaping a film. Morgen, director of "Nimrod Nation,” said Moore's "Bowling for Columbine” drastically altered the direction of documentaries. The success of Moore's films have given other filmmakers in the documentary field a bigger budget and a new directive, Morgen added. "Movie theaters focus on making money,” Morgen said. "As filmmakers, we have to make films with an eye for entertaining the audience ... We have to take important issues and make them entertaining.”
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