TRAVERSE CITY -- The film festival is 5 years old.
If it were a kid, it would be going to kindergarten.
And it is, kind of. This year, the Traverse City Film Festival added a film school -- one of many developments to occur as the event matured.
Sure, there was crying when the festival was born in 2005. Its father's politics provoked some fussing.
But soon, the festival grew from its four original venues and expanded to auditoriums at Central Grade School and the Dennos Museum Center. Along the way, it revived the darkened downtown State Theatre into a year-round gathering spot.
Now, at age 5, the film festival is one of Traverse City's summer mainstays. More than 70 features, plus 50 shorts will be shown from Tuesday through Sunday. It took vision and volunteers to make it to this birthday, organizers said.
Film festival origins
Academy Award winner Michael Moore is the face of the film festival -- a face often topped by a baseball cap.
His casual image fits the laid-back but highbrow festival he founded in Traverse City, near his Antrim County home. The first festival launched in late July 2005 after just six weeks of intensive planning.
The concept: To create an event "for movie lovers, for the community, and to, in our own small way, make a contribution to save the cinema," Moore said.
Over the years, that meant comedies like "Borat," treasures like "The Wizard of Oz" and foreign films like Jordan's "Captain Abu Raed." This week, it means the highly anticipated "Julie & Julia" and a documentary to mark Woodstock's 40th anniversary.
That first year was a flurry of activity. Moore called in favors with studios to get films. His then-assistant Jason Pollock ran around town, raised money and worked on tickets. Susan Brown coordinated the legions of first-year volunteers. Deb Lake, now the executive director, earned notice for her hard work and was tapped to help wrap up the first festival and plan the second.
The festival battled public perception. Moore's liberal politics left some uneasy about his plans. Opponents protested with a counter festival, but it did not return the next year.
"I believed that maybe it might be good for me to do something for an area that disagrees with me politically. Instead of shunning them or fighting them on some level, maybe I should embrace them," Moore said.
Festival volunteer and movie-lover Debi Dechow didn't understand the resistance to the film festival.
"It doesn't matter if you agree with him or not. This is not about him. Yes, he was the founder, but it's about bringing something to Traverse City and doing something for the community which is amazing," she said.
The first year brought nearly 50,000 admissions and 500 volunteers. Last year's festival, the fourth annual event, drew more than 80,000 admissions and 1,200 volunteers.
"We can't do it without this army of volunteers. It's by the community, for the community," said local resident and festival board member John Robert Williams.
State of the State
The crown jewel of the film festival is the State Theatre.
Festival momentum and festival organizers enabled the old movie house to reopen after serving as home base for early festivals. From the beginning, Moore wanted the State. That first year, he was told it was impossible. No projectors, no screen, no speakers. "Think of some place else," he was told.
Donations and volunteer labor allowed the theater to welcome festival-goers that first year. The festival later worked out a deal with Rotary Charities of Traverse City to take it over. A spruced up State reopened for year-round use in late 2007.
"That was my theater when I was a kid, and it just sat there empty and everyone in town had learned to ignore it -- like the crazy uncle in the living room," said festival board member Doug Stanton.
Dechow thinks the film festival "makes our region stand out." Stanton called the first year a "grand experiment."
"It was really amazing, and it wasn't just about movies. It was about bringing story-telling back downtown," he said.