traverse city film festival!

Transcription

GUIDE
Just Great Movies
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WELCOME TO THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY
TRAVERSE CITY FILM FESTIVAL!
Here is your official Traverse City Film Festival Guide. If you’re wondering if we
have any special surprises in store for you because it’s our Awesome Mind-Blowing 10th Anniversary, well, let me ask you: does Chums Corners have corners?
We’ve got too many surprises to list here (see page 7 for a detailed list), but let
me give you just one so you can see how we’ve totally gone off the rails: MOVIES ON A BOAT! That’s right. One of our two new venues this year will sit right
smack dab out in the middle of the Bay. Watching stars on the screen under
stars in the sky! We’ll sail out from Clinch Marina with a projector, screen, and popcorn in tow. Crazy?
Yup. Cool, romantic, and better than cherry pie? You bet!
I also want to highlight a few genius, hidden gems that Deb and I have found this year. You may not have
heard of them, but trust me, you won’t stop talking about them after you leave the theater. You may
not normally go to films like these, but I hope you will leave your comfort zone and take the risk to see a
brilliant movie. Here are my picks:
FESTIVAL TICKETS
SUMMER OF BLOOD We all know the “date from hell,” but what if the only way your date was going to
be interesting was if he got bitten by a vampire on the streets of NYC? (page 21)
MAIN BOX OFFICE
201 E. Front Street, Corner of Front and Cass Streets
MANUSCRIPTS DON’T BURN For 10 years we have brought brave, bold movies made in Iran to cinephiles in northern Michigan. This one is the latest and the greatest. (page 26)
231-242-FILM (3456)
STILL LIFE A lonely government employee is assigned the task of conducting the funerals and burials
for the unclaimed bodies in the city morgue. A quiet, moving film from the UK with a “Downton Abbey”
pedigree. (page 27)
BENDING THE LIGHT Michael Apted (“56 Up,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter”) returns to the festival for
the premiere of his new documentary about the art and science of photography and cinematography.
(page 30)
THE NEWBURGH STING and SILENCED Two important films about the dangers of our national security state: whistleblowers are jailed, and innocent people are set up by an FBI in search of “terrorists”
around every corner. (pages 34 and 36)
STATIONS OF THE CROSS A masterpiece of filmmaking. Need I say more? Ok, I’ll say more. The first
shot—not just the first scene—is 17 minutes long. Recovering Catholics, meet me in the park afterward.
(page 27)
AL HELM: MARTIN LUTHER KING IN PALESTINE A doc about what happened recently when a group
of African American singers and actors took their play about nonviolence and Martin Luther King, Jr. to
Palestine. (page 30)
FISHING WITHOUT NETS A drama about Somali pirates, told from the point of view of the Somalis.
Think of it as the antidote to “Captain Phillips.” (page 24)
DON’T LEAVE ME A truly great film about divorce that begins with a “Waiting for Godot” line: “It is not
every day that we are needed.” (page 31)
THE ONE I LOVE I’ve been advised by legal not to comment on this film. Fine. But go see it. There’s
nothing else like it in the fest! (page 20)
RUBBER SOUL Wow, just when you’ve thought you’ve seen the story of the Beatles told in every way
possible, along comes this canny, brilliant movie. I loved it. (page 21)
I WON’T COME BACK A powerful road movie from Belarus about two girls who decide to hitchhike to
Kazakhstan. (page 25)
BLIND DATES Two lonely 40-year-old guys in the ex-Soviet state of Georgia arrange awkward blind
dates for themselves. Funny. Sad. Funny. (page 22)
THE HUNT Nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film this year, this Danish film tells the
tragic story of a teacher who is falsely accused of molestation. (page 25)
LETTERS TO JACKIE: REMEMBERING PRESIDENT KENNEDY Don’t miss this one. Bring Kleenex.
(page 33)
Phones open July 11 for questions
and July 13 for ticket sales
PRE-FESTIVAL MAIN BOX OFFICE HOURS
(July 13-28): 11 am to 6 pm
July 13: Opening Sales for Friends of the Film Festival
July 19: Opening Sales for the Public
On both days: 11 am - walk up and phone; 6 pm - online sales
FESTIVAL MAIN BOX OFFICE HOURS
(July 29-August 3): 9 am to 6 pm
*Extended hours: Open till 9 pm July 29 & 30
$12 | General Admission Tickets to Regular Movies
$1 | Kids Fest Movies
$5 | Film School Classes
$20 | Movies on a Boat, Sneak Previews, and Special Screenings
$25 or $50 | Opening, Centerpiece & Closing Night Movies
$50 (1/2 off for Friends of the Film Festival)
Opening Night and Filmmaker Parties (ticketed separately)
FREE | Open Space Films, Movies at The Buzz, Panels,
Kids Fest Lawn Party
PUBLICATION DESIGN AND PRODUCTION COURTESY
TRAVERSE CITY FILM FESTIVAL ART DIRECTOR:
Gabriel Augustine
THIS PUBLICATION IS
A SUPPLEMENT TO THE
120 W Front Street | Traverse City MI 49684
231-946-2000
Michael Moore
JULY 29 - AUGUST 3, 2014 | TRAVERSE CITY FILM FESTIVAL
STATE
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OPEN SPACE
MOVIE MAGIC
on Grand Traverse Bay, free for
everyone. The biggest screen,
the biggest stars, the biggest
sound—nothing is better than
watching a Hollywood classic
with friends and family on a 65foot screen by the bay. This year,
our “Best of” Open Space slate
is packed with your favorite films
that have played over the last
nine years—all of them among
the most beloved and popular
movies of all time. Come early
for music, entertainment, and
fun, all FREE, beginning at 7 pm.
JAWS
1975 | USA | PG | 124 min.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water,
“Jaws” returns to the bayfront with a…da-dum…da-dum…dadum…vengeance. When a small seaside community is terrorized
by a deadly Great White, it’s up to an embattled police chief
(Roy Scheider), a boy wonder oceanographer (Richard Dreyfuss), and a salty old shark hunter (Robert Shaw) to track down
and destroy the skinny dipper-crunching, man-lunching beast.
Director Steven Spielberg ushered in a new era of filmmaking
with this rollicking thriller that taps into our deepest fears and
never lets go. We’re gonna need a bigger screen to contain
all the wickedly playful humor, heart-pounding tension, and
breathtaking suspense that awaits visitors to the Open Space
Tuesday night for a special showing of the original summer
blockbuster (and the very first film to ever screen at the Open
Space back in 2005).
TUESDAY AT DUSK
CASABLANCA
1942 | USA | NR | 102 min.
Iconic. A national treasure. And even as time goes by,
it remains one of the greatest romances ever made. It
could’ve been just another average studio picture—no
one was expecting a great movie. But luckily for us,
destiny intervened with story, lighting, music, and the
unparalleled acting chops of Humphrey Bogart and
Ingrid Bergman coming together with unparalleled
craftsmanship. There’s a lot more we could say about
cynical American expatriate Rick Blaine and the girl
who walks into his gin joint and back into his life, but
it all comes down to this: If “Casablanca” comes to
Traverse City and you’re not at the Open Space, you’ll
regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but
soon and for the rest of your life.
THURSDAY AT DUSK
TRAVERSE CITY FILM FESTIVAL | JULY 29 - AUGUST 3, 2014
JURASSIC PARK
1993 | USA | PG-13 | 127 min.
Eccentric billionaire John Hammond builds a theme park
on an island where, thanks to some prehistoric bug juice,
dinosaurs once again roam the earth. What could possibly
go wrong? Well, to the sheer delight of moviegoers everywhere—quite a lot. Taking you on a thrill ride of colossally
entertaining proportions, a team of scientists (including Sam
Neill, Jeff Goldblum! and Laura Dern) fight for survival amidst
a stirring John Williams score, dino-mite jeeps, and only
partially annoying children. While the landmark special effects,
electrifying action set pieces, and menacing raptors remain
undeniably awesome, it is the way master of movie-making
wizardry Steven Spielberg speaks to our collective imagination
with majestic and awe-inspiring wonder that is the true star
attraction. Rained out at the Open Space back in 2006, be a
“clever girl” or boy and don’t miss it this time around.
WEDNESDAY AT DUSK
OPEN SPACE
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CLOSING
NIGHT BASH
Sunday, August 3
7 pm - 9:45 pm | Open Space Park
THE GOONIES
1985 | USA | PG | 114 min.
With their homes in the “goon docks” threatened by devious
developers, a misfit band of kids—including a brace-faced asthmatic, a wise guy with one heck of a mouth, a gadget geek, and
a Baby Ruth-loving klutz—take to their bikes and embark on an
unforgettable quest to uncover the lost treasure of the pirate
One-Eyed Willie. A swashbuckling fantasy replete with booby
traps, secret passages, golden doubloons, ghost ships, and a
Sloth, this may be the most gloriously giddy and genuinely fun
adventure ever committed to celluloid. A movie that defined a
generation and remains compulsively watchable, “The Goonies”
is pure cinematic magic that perfectly captures the wonder of
growing up, and the friendships we make that never die!
SATURDAY AT DUSK
THE WIZARD OF OZ
1939 | USA | NR | 102 min.
There’s no place like the Open Space, and there’s certainly no
better place to see a film with this much timeless enchantment, this much enduring magic, and this much fantastical
splendor. After a tornado transports her to the extraordinary
Land of Oz, Dorothy Gale (and her little dog, too) leaves a sepia-toned reality behind for a dazzling Technicolor daydream.
But in order to return home, Dorothy must follow a yellow
brick road, encountering munchkins, flying monkeys, a wicked
witch, lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!) along the way. While oft
reimagined and retold, there remains nothing in the cinematic
cannon that can top the breathtaking imagination and hopeful
joy of Judy Garland transporting us somewhere over the rainbow and reminding us just how wonderful the movies can be.
SUNDAY AT DUSK
Join us Sunday night for our free
community party and stay for a
screening of the ultimate family classic, “The Wizard of Oz.”
With live music, games, prizes,
an interactive photobooth, and
more, it will be a night so magical, you’ll feel like you’ve been
swept away to Oz. Enjoy a variety of delectable sweets available
for purchase. You might even see
yourself on the big screen. Free!
STAR WARS: EPISODE IV A NEW HOPE™
PEOPLE’S CHOICE WINNER
1977 | USA | PG | 125 min.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, George Lucas
created a film that would change cinema forever and
launch an unstoppable pop-culture juggernaut that
has survived both Jar Jar Binks and a very “special”
Christmas special. Luke Skywalker, a farm boy from
the planet Tatooine, begins a hero’s journey that takes
him across the galaxy to rescue Rebel Alliance leader
Princess Leia from the clutches of the evil Darth Vader. Along the way, he joins a colorful cast of characters
including the sage Obi Wan Kenobi, roguish Han Solo,
steadfast Chewbacca, neurotic C-3PO, and trusty R2D2 in the fight against the Galactic Empire. Whether
for the first or 500th time, don’t miss your chance to
experience this ultimate classic for the whole family
like never before—on a 65-foot screen beneath the
stars. May the force be with you as surprises await
potential Jedi padawans at this special People’s Choice
winning screening.
FRIDAY AT DUSK
STATE
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PARTIES
FRIENDS ONLY SCREENING PARTY
Saturday, July 26 | 12 pm, 3 pm,
6 pm & 9pm | Lars Hockstad Auditorium
Our popular Friends of the Film Festival
screenings are back again this year! We’ll
have two screenings of each film, free
concessions, and a special treat sure to
start the week off on an auspicious note.
The Friends Only movies are two of the festival’s best, and
they won’t be shown anywhere else (see page 11). And
remember, there’s still time to sign up to be a 2014 Friend of
the Film Festival and take part in this exclusive day of movies.
Free for Friends!
FOUNDERS PARTY
Sunday, July 27 | 11 am Brunch,
2 pm Screening | Rain or Shine
The Patio at Clinch Park & State Theatre
For the first time in 10 years, we’re mixing
things up at the Founders Party for festival
sponsors with an exciting new location steps
away from the heart of the festival. Join us
on the Patio at Clinch Park for a gourmet brunch hosted by
Grandview Catering, followed by a sneak preview of one of
the festival’s best films, “Land Ho!” (see page 20). It’s not too
late to become a sponsor and enjoy this party along with a
host of other benefits. Email [email protected] for more info.
OPENING NIGHT PARTY
Tuesday, July 29 | 8:30 pm – 12:30 am
Rain or Shine | Front Street (200 Block)
between Park and Cass Streets
featuring local cuisine, libations, and entertainment. Enjoy a
red carpet evening of vintage elegance and sparkling lights
as we welcome our festival friends from around the world to
experience the magic of Traverse City. Cost: $50
MICHAEL’S SUPER SWEET 60TH
Friday, August 1 | 9 pm – 11:30 pm
The Corner Loft (201 E. Front Street)
We’re not only marking one great
milestone this year, we’re toasting our
festival founder on the occasion of his 60th
birthday with an evening to remember.
Join visiting filmmakers and special guests
as we celebrate our fearless leader Michael Moore at this
intimate birthday party replete with balloons, a visiting
food truck, festive cocktails, and good cheer! And, it’s
also the 25th anniversary of Michael’s first film, “Roger &
Me,” this year. You know what that means? MORE CAKE!
Cost: $100 - Fundraiser for the Traverse City Film Festival
FILMMAKER PARTY
Saturday, August 2
8:30 pm – 12:30 am | Rain or Shine
Century 21 Northland Parking Lot,
Corner of State and Park Streets
Celebrate with visiting filmmakers in the
miraculously transformed parking lot on the
corner of State and Park streets. At 9:30
pm, be one of the few to see the Founders present this year’s
festival awards to a group of amazingly talented filmmakers.
Featuring a smorgasbord of food, drinks, and entertainment,
this star-studded party is sure to be a blast. Cost: $50
Kick off the festival with a celebration of
10 years of “just great movies” on Tuesday
night. Front Street will be dripping with old
Hollywood glamour—an entrancing scene
TCFF CLOSING NIGHT BASH
Sunday, August 3 | 7 pm – 9:45 pm
Open Space Park
Follow the yellow brick road down to the
Open Space on Sunday night for our free
community party. Find out more on page 5.
Free for All!
VOLUNTEER PARTY
Monday, August 4
6 pm – 9 pm | Rain or Shine
The Front Lawn at the Village of
Grand Traverse Commons
We celebrate our dedicated, amazing,
generous, and talented volunteers at this
fun post-festival fête where we let our
heartfelt thanks show and the libations flow. Share stories
with friends about your favorite festival moments and
celebrate the week’s success. Featuring some of the top food
and beverages from our area, this party is the best way to end
a magical week. Free for Volunteers!
10th ANNIVERSARY
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YEARS
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JUST GREAT MOVIES
HAS IT REALLY BEEN A DECADE?
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Celebrating the Great Movies That Have Changed Us
We get bored easily, and nothing is worse than resting on laurels. But thanks to the great moviegoers, volunteers, sponsors, and filmmakers who have transformed Traverse City one week a year
since 2005, we have a lot to celebrate! In honor of our 10th Anniversary, we are:
Adding a brand new theater—The Buzz—with FREE movies all day, every festival day
(pages 43–46)
Showing Movies on a Boat in the middle of the Bay! (page 15)
Starting the festivities a week early with Traverse City Film Festival
Around the Bay (page 14)
Bringing back one of the best and most memorable festival films from
each of the past nine years, all showing FREE at The Buzz (pages 45–46)
Showing the best Open Space films from the past nine years in, where
else, the Open Space (pages 4–5)
Displaying iconic moments from the festival’s history throughout all the
venues, including a TCFF history wall at The Buzz
Giving special recognition to sponsors and volunteers who have been with
us since the very beginning in 2005
If you have a funny or interesting story about something you saw at the festival, something that
made you laugh, think, or cry during the first years of the festival, we want to hear from you. Email
[email protected], or call 231-392-1134. We look forward to celebrating with you July 29 – August 3!
AUCTION — BID FOR GOOD!
We’ve been gathering handprints of visiting filmmakers in cement since
we started the festival in 2005: John Waters, Madonna, Susan Sarandon,
David O. Russell, Stanley Donen, Wim Wenders, Paul Feig, Roseanne
Barr, Matthew Modine, Phil Donahue, Rosie O’Donnell, Brit Marling,
Patton Oswalt and more have made their mark in cement, and we’ve
been stockpiling the squares in the hopes of having a TCFF Walk of
Fame on Front Street outside of the State Theatre.
Now that we’re ten years old, it’s time to put their hands into a heated
sidewalk up and down the street. Help us create the Walk of Fame by
purchasing an item from our TCFF 10th Anniversary Auction! Go online
to www.tcff.org/auction between July 20 and August 5 and bid on great
items like these:
Two Tickets to Michael Moore’s 2014 Screening at the Toronto Film
Festival, and Meet Michael at the Show
Play Ping Pong with Susan Sarandon at SPiN in NYC
Tony Bennett Signed Limited Edition Giclee Art Print of the Golden
Gate Bridge
Jacket Worn by Jennifer Aniston in “Life of Crime”
Walk-on Role in Matthew Modine’s New Film, “The Rocking
Horseman,” Coffee/Tea with Matthew Modine in Los Angeles, & a
Signed, Limited Edition “Full Metal Jacket” Diary Poster
Join Doug Benson as a Guest on his “Doug Loves Movies” or
”Dining with Doug & Karen” Podcast in Los Angeles
Zac Brown Band: Two Tickets Plus an Eat & Greet with the Band
Skype or Coffee in New York City with Alex Karpovsky, Plus a “Girls”
Signed Script, Box Set, and Poster
Donations to the Traverse City Film Festival for the excess of the purchase price paid
for an item over its fair market value are tax deductible to the extent provided by law;
the Traverse City Film Festival is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Thank You!
TCFF MOBILE APP
Get the official iPhone and Android 2014 App
from the App Store or Google Play: order tickets,
browse films, events, places to eat, and maps, and
keep up with the latest news and schedule updates
as you make your way around the festival.
GALAS
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OPENING NIGHT
LA GRAN FAMILIA ESPAÑOLA
2013 | Spain | NR | 95 min.
Expect the unexpected—nothing is cliché in this perfectly-paced comedy-drama set
at a countryside wedding. Daniel Sanchez Arevalo directs Spain’s top box office stars,
who switch easily from high emotion to broad comedy in a beautifully romantic Spanish
landscape pulsating in the summer sunlight. Spain’s national soccer team is playing in the
World Cup final; the youngest of five brothers is getting married to his very pregnant
childhood sweetheart; family and friends are gathered at the family ranch in the mountains outside Madrid for both festivities; the weather is perfect; and the wedding party
dances up the aisle—the stage is set for a vibrant, funny, tender film about the power of
family that is sure to be enjoyed by anyone who savors the good life.
In Spanish with subtitles
TUE 6 PM ST | TUE 7:30 PM COH | TUE 10 PM ST
CENTERPIECE SCREENING
CALVARY
2014 | Ireland, UK | NR | 100 min.
From the darkness of the church confessional, an anonymous voice reveals the torment
he suffered in his youth at the hands of a serially abusive priest. He promises Father
Lavelle (Brendan Gleeson) that the Father will be martyred just up the beach the following Sunday to pay for his tormentor’s sins. So begins director John Michael McDonagh’s
follow up to “The Guard” (TCFF ‘11), a mordantly comic who’s-gonna-do-it set in a seaside
Irish village. The tough-minded, erudite priest has a week to settle his affairs, or change
the murderer’s mind. Father Lavelle believes he knows which of his combative black sheep
threatened him, even if we do not: is it the supercilious squire, the sad-sack butcher, the
baleful publican? Filled with sparkling wit, a deep love of language, a sharp sense of place,
and rapid-fire repartee, “Calvary” is a must-see for serious film lovers.
FRI 6 PM ST
CLOSING NIGHT
MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT
2014 | USA | PG-13 | 100 min.
Woody Allen returns to the realm of fizzy, funny, and fine romantic farce in this sparking
example of why he remains America’s preeminent comedic auteur. In the French Riviera
at the height of the roaring 20s, a deliciously delirious battle of wit and wills unfolds as
staunch skeptic Stanley Crawford (Colin Firth) is sent on a mission to the Côte d’Azur
mansion of the Catledge family to debunk a beguiling young medium (Emma Stone). But
following a series of infinitely charming and exceedingly magical events, the man once
steadfast in his belief that life is dull begins to change. Perhaps, he thinks, when it comes
to matters of the heart, there are some things you just can’t possibly know for certain.
Firth and Stone are an absolute delight to behold, and their glistening chemistry anchors
a star-studded ensemble cast featuring Jacki Weaver, Hamish Linklater, and Marcia Gay
Harden, all of which is sure to make for an utterly unforgettable closing night gala.
SUN 6 PM ST
SUPPORTER SCREENINGS
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FRIENDS
OF THE FILM FESTIVAL
We’re throwing a movie party! Friends of the
DIVIDE IN CONCORD
2014 | Australia, USA | NR | 82 min.
Imagine if your city wanted to entirely ban the sale of
bottled water—everywhere. In Concord, MA, home to
“shot heard round the world” reenactments galore and
an intensely interesting form of local government, lives
Jean Hill, an octogenarian who learned about the world’s
largest landfill, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, from her
grandson—and decided to do something about it. Joined
by passionate activists who go door to door and build giant sculptures from discarded plastic water bottles, Jean
takes on the International Bottled Water Association, local merchants, and Adriana Cohen, a model and celebrity
publicist turned pundit who insists that Jean’s proposed
bill is an attack on freedom. Funny, enlightening, and
shocking in parts, this story of an exhausting three-year
battle ends with a tense nail-biter of a vote.
SAT 7/26 3 PM LARS | SAT 7/26 9 PM LARS
Supporter
Screenings
Friends Only Screenings
DIVIDE IN CONCORD
Saturday, July 26
3 pm & 9 pm at Lars Hockstad Auditorium
HUMAN CAPITAL
Saturday, July 26
12 noon & 6 pm at Lars Hockstad Auditorium
HUMAN CAPITAL (IL CAPITALE UMANO)
2013 | France, Italy | NR | 110 min.
This Italian box office hit begins at the end, when a waiter is run off the road by an SUV while biking home on
a wintry night. We follow the lives of three inextricably
linked families as they tumble toward this ill-fated event,
and ultimately discover what happened that night. This
stylish murder mystery pieces clues across chapters
from the perspectives of three characters at various
positions in the social hierarchy: Dino, an anxious social
climber trying to save himself from bankruptcy; Celia,
the matriarch of a wealthy and unassailable family; and
finally Serena, Dino’s teenage daughter caught between
their worlds. Set in the wake of the recent financial
crisis, “Human Capital” is an engrossing study of family
and class, featuring flawless performances and beautiful
production design woven together to drive home the
film’s ultimate message: that the lives of “little people”
are disposable when power is threatened.
SAT 7/26 12 NOON LARS | SAT 7/26 6 PM LARS
Film Festival, join us for Friends Only movies on
Saturday, July 26, featuring award-winning films
not seen anywhere else in the festival.
These screenings are for Friends Only, but don’t
worry, there is still time to become a 2014 Friend!
To renew or purchase a membership for the 2014
festival, log on to our website, call 231-392-1134,
or email [email protected]. Sign up for your 2015
Friends of the Film Festival membership starting
July 19—it’s half price through September 1!
TCFF SPONSORS
We thank the
generous sponsors who support the festival in so
many ways. Please look for the full list of our loyal
sponsors in the festival program guide during the
festival and on our website year round. We hope
you will support those who support us!
Special thanks to our 10 year
presenting sponsors:
THE WILSON FAMILY
Buzz Wilson “Too Hot to Handle” Sponsor
THE HOLLANDER FAMILY IN HONOR OF
Founders Screening
STUART J. HOLLANDER
Volunteer Screening
Family Foundation
LAND HO! (see page 20)
Sunday, July 27
2 pm at the State Theatre
THE VOLCANO (see page 27)
Monday, July 30
6 pm at Lars Hockstad Auditorium
Sustaining Sponsor
Founding Sponsor
STATE
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TCFF AROUND THE BAY
A CINEMATIC
TOUR
PETOSKEY
CHARLEVOIX
Travel from charming hamlet to
quaint village on a six-day film
odyssey around the shore. See
the sights, eat at restaurants,
and experience great theaters—
it’s a scenic northern Michigan
adventure that will drive home
just what makes this region the
most glorious place on earth for
film lovers. Best of all, get six
films under your belt before the
festival even begins, and ease
your schedule gridlock!
SUTTONS BAY
ELK RAPIDS
TRAVERSE CITY
FRANKFORT
MANISTEE
MANISTEE
PETOSKEY
Sunday, July 20 | 7 pm
The Historic Vogue Theatre of Manistee
THE BACHELOR WEEKEND (page 22)
Reopened in 2013 as part of a community
effort helped by the Traverse City Film
Festival, the Vogue is a sight to behold.
Spend time in the little town on the big lake where Darth
Vadar himself, James Earl Jones, honed his acting chops.
Monday, July 21 | 7 pm
Petoskey Cinema
DINOSAUR 13 (page 31)
Discover an area that’s been called “A
Michigan Treasure” when you visit the
Petoskey Cinema off the shores of Little
Traverse Bay. Formerly the Gaslight Cinema, Petoskey
Cinema seats 300 and is part of Northern Michigan Cinemas.
ELK RAPIDS
FRANKFORT
Thursday, July 24 | 7 pm
Elk Rapids Cinema
SISTER (page 21)
Wednesday, July 23 | 7 pm
Garden Theater
THE GERMAN DOCTOR (page 24)
Built in 1923, the 300-seat Garden Theater
reopened with community ownership in
2009. With “Good Morning America’s” Most
Beautiful Place in America, the Sleeping Bear Dunes National
Lakeshore, right next door, Frankfort is the place to be.
Steps from the shores of East Grand
Traverse Bay, Elk Rapids Cinema seats 300
and features the world’s largest blacklight
mural, painted in 1940. Elk Rapids is also home to a great
summer celebration: enjoy Harbor Days July 30 to August 2.
CHARLEVOIX
Tuesday, July 22 | 7 pm
Charlevoix Cinema III
112 WEDDINGS (page 30)
Nestled between Lake Charlevoix and Lake
Michigan, the newly renovated 145-seat
Charlevoix Cinema III is a great place to see
movies. Visit Charlevoix for the film, and stay for the Venetian
Festival, a flurry of color and pageantry, July 19 to 26.
SUTTONS BAY
Friday, July 25 | 7 pm
The Bay Theatre
PLAYING DEAD (page 27)
Nestled on picturesque Suttons Bay, the Bay Theatre has been entertaining locals
since 1946. Featuring local cherry soda and other creative concessions, a new
digital projector, and creative programming year round, this
271-seat theater in the quaintest of towns is sure to charm.
MOVIES ON A BOAT
MOVIES ON A
BOAT SCHEDULE
9 PM EVERY NIGHT, DEPARTING FROM
THE GAS DOCK IN CLINCH MARINA
TUESDAY THE BACHELOR WEEKEND
WEDNESDAY TO BE TAKEI
THURSDAY SUPERMENSCH: THE
LEGEND OF SHEP GORDON
FRIDAY FINDING VIVIAN MAIER
SATURDAY SNOWPIERCER
SUNDAY THE ONE I LOVE
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MOVIES ON A BOAT
Along with bringing you Movies Around the
Bay, you can experience movies literally ON
the Bay. We’re partnering with our friends at
the Nauti-Cat to offer a special opportunity for film lovers with a good set of sea legs.
Set sail into the sunset to enjoy a great film
in a simply unparalleled setting. Refunds will
be issued in the event of inclement weather. Visit tcff.org for more details on these
unique filmgoing excursions.
TRAVERSE CITY FILM FESTIVAL
AROUND THE WORLD
7 THEATERS
7 CONTINENTS
1 WORLDWIDE MOVIE WATCHING EXTRAVAGANZA
Join a few thousand people all watching the same movie at the same
time, connected to each other and the filmmakers across seven movie
theaters from Antarctica to Tehran—all organized live from the stage of
the State Theatre in Traverse City! A first-time ever event. Stay tuned
for more details at tcff.org.
FRI 3 PM | STATE
AMERICAN
19
5 TO 7
2014 | USA | NR | 97 min.
Maybe there are some people you are meant to love, and some you are meant to marry—this idea, and the French “cinq à sept” affair (liaisons scheduled during that hazy time
between leaving work and arriving home) are explored in this gloriously romantic, Audrey
Hepburn-esque love story. After Bérénice Marlohe (“Skyfall”) and aspiring writer Anton Yelchin (“Star Trek”) fall in love at first sight, it takes time for him to accept the open
relationship she has with her husband, but soon he’s attending the married couple’s dinner
parties with the husband’s mistress in attendance, too. His parents (Glenn Close and Frank
Langella) are memorably slower to accept the concept, and eventually, he has to decide if
the 5 to 7 window is enough. A funny and earnestly sentimental crowd pleaser, “5 to 7”
has the power to change the way we think about relationships.
WED 3 PM ST | SUN 9 PM LARS
BLUE RUIN
2013 | USA | R | 91 min.
Dwight lives a peaceful existence as a
beach bum in a Virginia resort town,
scraping by on food scrounged from
dumpsters and generally avoiding confrontation with the locals while sleeping
in his beat-up Pontiac. But his life is given
renewed purpose when he receives word
that a man with whom he has a score to
settle is set to be released from prison.
Dwight is spurred into action as a hapless
assassin with the will and motivation—but
not necessarily the resources—to exact
revenge. His ineptitude as a killer sets
off a chain of events that leaves him in a
desperate fight to protect his family. An
award winner at Cannes, director Jeremy
Saulnier’s masterful revenge thriller is
rife with blackly comedic moments and
heart-pounding thrills.
THU 6 PM BIJ
COHERENCE
2013 | USA | NR | 89 min.
When four couples meet for a dinner
party on the night Miller’s comet is due to
pass close to Earth, they couldn’t have anticipated the astrological anomaly causing
a disruption of the evening’s affairs. But
after the power goes out, internet and
phone service shut down, and all the lights
in the quiet suburb go dim—save one eerily similar house a few blocks away—their
evening takes a decidedly mind-bending
turn. As the group scrambles to make
sense of the bizarre turn of events, they
argue over ever-wilder theories as to what
sinister forces lie in wait outside the confines of the house. A heady mix of quantum physics and mystery, “Coherence” is
a clever and original low-budget sci-fi flick
that emphasizes storytelling over flashy
effects, and is sure to be one of the most
talked about genre films of the summer.
WED 9 PM COH | SAT 3 PM OTP
COLD IN JULY
2014 | USA, France | R | 89 min.
On a hot summer night in Texas in the late
80s, timid family man Richard Dane (Michael C. Hall) semi-accidentally shoots and
kills low-life burglar Freddy Russell, who
has invaded his family’s home. This action
sets off a chain of events that sends ripples
beyond Dane’s small hometown. When
word of Freddy’s demise reaches his father
(Sam Shepard), the grizzled ex-con rolls
into town with vengeance on his mind, and
Richard turns to a flamboyant private eye
in Houston (Don Johnson) to help protect
his family. Full of smart twists and turns,
this suspenseful pulp action flick follows
the trio’s deadly chase through an increasingly intricate web of police corruption,
vigilantism, and violence that will keep you
rooted to your seat, all of the way through
to its shocking conclusion.
THU 6 PM MIL
FADING GIGOLO
2013 | USA | R | 98 min.
What a delight to see Woody Allen in top
form, riffing as Murray, owner of a cashstrapped rare books emporium. He sees
an opportunity to save the store when his
dermatologist (Sharon Stone) asks him to
find a man who can help her realize the
fantasy of a ménage à trois with her friend,
Sofia Vergara. Murray talks his shy florist
friend Fioravante (actor-writer-director
John Turturro) into taking the job, and his
remarkable skills lead to a lucrative series
of meetings with other wealthy and lonely
women. Everything goes remarkably well
until Murray arranges a platonic meetup with a lonely Hasidic widow (Vanessa
Paradis), and a meaningful bond begins to
form under the jealous and watchful eye
of Liev Schreiber from her neighborhood’s
Jewish police. It’s possibly the funniest,
most tender, wryly observant, sepia-tinted,
jazzy story about a gigolo ever made.
THU 12 NOON LARS | SAT 9 PM ST
STATE
20
AMERICAN
LIFE OF CRIME
2013 | USA | R | 94 min.
We are thrilled to present the US premiere of “Life of Crime,” the best adaptation we’ve
seen of a novel by “the Dickens of Detroit,” Elmore Leonard. John Hawkes and Mos
Def star as low-level criminals who kidnap a corrupt Detroit real estate developer’s wife
for ransom (the couple is played by Tim Robbins and Jennifer Aniston). While Aniston
attempts to improve her position, two very different kinds of sleazeballs up the ante in an
escalating sequence of double crosses and plot twists, all set in 1970s Detroit to a great
soundtrack of Top 40 hits and lounge tracks. Based on Leonard’s 1978 novel “The Switch,”
director Daniel Schechter’s (“Supporting Characters,” TCFF ‘12) comedy brilliantly captures the look and feel of inexpensive 70s caper cinema, from the opening copyright to
the vintage jacket Aniston wears (an item in our TCFF auction!).
FRI 9 PM ST | SAT 6 PM LARS
HELLION
2014 | USA | NR | 98 min.
Expanded from her short film of the same
name (TCFF ‘12), writer/director Kat Candler’s hard-hitting family drama explores
adolescent angst through the eyes of
13-year-old hellraiser Jacob. In a small
rural town in southeast Texas, single father
Hollis (Aaron Paul of “Breaking Bad”) has
withdrawn to boozy depression following
the death of his wife, and doesn’t have
much in the way of fatherhood to offer
his two boys. Left unattended, Jacob’s
wild antics threaten to bring the family to
collapse when his latest stunt draws the
attention of Child Protective Services,
and Jacob’s younger brother is removed
from his father’s custody. A breakout hit
at Sundance, this authentic and haunting family drama offers the very best of
American indie cinema, including masterful
performances by Aaron Paul and teenage
newcomer Josh Wiggins.
FRI 9 PM COH | SUN 9 PM OTP
LAND HO!
2014 | USA | R | 95 min.
After being forced into retirement, Mitch,
a cheeky sweetheart of a man, convinces
Colin, his gentle soul of an ex-brother-inlaw, to join him on an impromptu holiday
to Iceland to get their septuagenarian
groove back. The result is a joyously
entertaining and thoughtfully humorous
journey of rediscovery. Together, they take
on the hottest nightclubs, swankiest spas,
and finest restaurants in Reykjavik before
exploring the gorgeously filmed vast vistas
and natural wonders of the countryside.
Part exhilarating travelogue, and part
road-tripping buddy comedy, the incredible comedic chemistry and refreshingly
old-fashioned regard for characterization
make this touching look at friendship and
aging a sure-fire TCFF hit. You’ll leave the
theater smiling uncontrollably with the
overwhelming sense that their adventures,
and yours, are just beginning.
WED 12 NOON LARS | SAT 6 PM MIL
LOVE IS STRANGE
2014 | USA, France | R | 93 min.
Ben and George (played brilliantly by
Alfred Molina and John Lithgow) have lived
in love together for 39 years before they
are finally allowed to be married in 2011,
when New York finally blesses same-sex
marriages. But good news proves short
lived when the Catholic school where
George works as a music teacher conveniently “discovers” that (gasp!) he has
a same sex partner (something they’ve
known for years and years). George is
fired, and the reduced income brings many
changes. Forced to give up their Chelsea apartment, and unable to find a new
place, George camps out on the couch
of the two gay cops next door, while Ben
moves into his nephew’s teenaged son’s
bottom bunk in Brooklyn. Marisa Tomei
and Darren Burrows co-star in Ira Sachs’
funny, tender, sensitive study of partnerships, modern love, and the damage
caused by homophobia. In English, Russian
with subtitles
WED 9 AM MIL | SAT 6 PM COH
THE ONE I LOVE
2014 | USA | R | 91 min.
We all have a good wife, or a good husband, inside of us—but sometimes we lose
touch. Love and physical attraction fade,
and soon we’re harping on our mate not
to eat the foods they love. Elizabeth Moss
and triple-threat Mark Duplass give near
perfect performances as a married couple
on the brink of separation in Charlie
McDowell’s wholly original, funny, and
remarkably clever exploration of marriage.
Things get a little bit “Twilight Zone” when
the couple begins exploring the beautiful
weekend getaway house suggested by
their marriage counselor (Ted Danson).
Forced by a series of bizarre experiences
to confront their better and worse selves,
McDowell’s comedic, uncanny exploration of troubled human partnerships has
wholly unpredictable results that you’ll be
discussing after the film ends. Bacon!
WED 9 PM LARS | SUN 9 PM BOAT
SUN 9 PM COH
AMERICAN
21
SISTER
2014 | USA | NR | 113 min.
Reid Scott (“Veep”) shows his star potential playing Billy, the older brother of an adopted
sister Nikki (Grace Kaufman), a troubled teen in desperate need of help. When their unstable mother Susan (Barbara Hershey) is institutionalized following a tragic accident that
left her widowed and Nikki without the father she relied on so heavily, Billy and his wife
are forced to take in the difficult sister. The resulting household tensions cause significant
career and household strife that ends in big life changes for an initially reluctant Billy. But
as the bond between the siblings strengthens and he grows into the role of brother and
protector, Billy discovers that, in order to really help Nikki, what he really needs is a plan
to replace the psychotropic drugs that have been prescribed for her. Amidst the incredibly personal, compelling, and often laugh-out-loud funny family drama, director David
Lascher crafts an important and powerful statement about medicating our children.
THU 7/24 7 PM ELK RAPIDS | THU 6 PM ST | FRI 3 PM LARS
PALO ALTO
2013 | USA | R | 100 min.
Based on a book by pop provocateur
James Franco, “Palo Alto” is that rare teen
movie that vividly captures the beautiful
rapture and intense indifference of youth
in a manner that is both decidedly of its
time and somehow also timeless. A dreamily evocative portrait of teenagers trapped
in their suburban milieu, this film follows
April (Emma Roberts), the prototypical girl
next door—shy, sensitive, and yearning
for Teddy (Jack Kilmer, whose father Val
makes a cameo), the sweetly lost boy next
door. But despite a shared affection, adolescent indecisiveness keeps them apart
and April suddenly finds herself engaged
in an illicit flirtation with her soccer coach
(James Franco). A remarkable debut from
director Gia Coppola—proving some
things really do just run in the family—her
decidedly mature direction marks the
entrance of a bold and exciting new voice
in American cinema.
WED 6 PM ST
RUBBER SOUL
2014 | USA | NR | 84 min.
Just when you thought the Beatles had
been done every which way from Sunday
and back, director Jon Lefkovitz comes
along with a completely fresh take on the
legendary band’s story. John Lennon and
Yoko Ono gave Rolling Stone’s Jann S.
Wenner an interview in December 1970
for the release of “Plastic Ono Band.” Ten
years later, while recording “Double Fantasy,” they agreed to an interview with Playboy, just three months before Lennon’s
assassination. Lefkovitz took verbatim
chunks of the interviews from transcripts
and had Joseph Bearor and Denice Lee
reenact them (although Ono mostly sits
quietly while Lennon talks). He then expertly edited them together, cutting back
and forth in time to create a fascinating
and revealing look at the repetitive nature
of celebrity interviews, and at John Lennon, the musician and the man.
FRI 6 PM OTP | SUN 12 NOON BIJ
SUMMER OF BLOOD
2014 | USA | NR | 86 min.
Part Woody Allen-esque self-deprecator,
part schlubby-but-loveable Judd Apatovian man-child, writer-director-star Onur
Tukel is a force to be reckoned with in this
outrageously hilarious and goofy comedy.
Tukel plays Eric, an egotistical and unambitious complainer who doesn’t have the
good sense to say yes when his far-toogood-for-him girlfriend proposes. With
limited career prospects, an inability to
commit, and severe shortcomings in the
bedroom, Eric is just about every Match.
com-er’s worst nightmare. But just when
our bumbling antihero seems to have hit
rock bottom following a bizarre encounter
one night, he wakes up with a new lease
on life—and an insatiable thirst for blood.
Transformed into a literal lady-killer, Eric
embarks on a quest to win back the one
that got away in this freewheeling Brooklyn love story.
WED 12 MIDNIGHT OTP
THU 9 PM BIJ
WILD CANARIES
2014 | USA | NR | 98 min.
Classic mystery lovers will rejoice at this
affectionate amateur detective adventure
that casts a Brooklyn couple as a sort-of
hipster Nick and Nora Charles. Barri (Sophia Takal) is an inquisitive ball of energy,
so naturally she suspects foul play following the death of her elderly neighbor,
and sets out with childlike enthusiasm to
investigate. With the help of her roommate Jean (Alia Shawkat of “Arrested Development”), Barri embarks on a shenanigans-heavy surveillance mission—while
her boyfriend Noah (director Lawrence
Michael Levine) unsuccessfully attempts to
rein her in, thinking his partner’s imagination is running wild after watching a little
too much Hitchcock. But as the evidence
starts to pile up, the unlikely sleuths
uncover secrets harbored within their
apartment building that paint everyone
in a suspicious light. Also starring Jason
Ritter (“Parenthood”) and TCFF perennial
Kevin Corrigan, this is not your typical
Brooklyn-set American indie, but a witty
farce with a smart sensibility all its own.
THU 9 PM OTP | SAT 9 PM BIJ
STATE
16
22
FOREIGN
THE BACHELOR WEEKEND
2013 | Ireland | NR | 94 min.
Who doesn’t love a boisterous Irish comedy—especially one with this much heart? The unlikely bachelor at
the center of the titular weekend is Fionnan, a guy more
interested in talking wedding details than jetting off for
organized debauchery. At the insistence of his fiancée
Ruth, however, he reluctantly agrees to cut loose for one
last prenuptial hurrah with his best mates (one of whom
just so happens to carry a torch for Ruth). But when Ruth’s
notoriously unpredictable brother, known only as “The
Machine,” turns up, what started as a relaxed camping
adventure becomes a rowdy journey into the wilderness as
they encounter more than their fair share of unexpected
detours. In this “The Hangover” for the discerning moviegoer—where nothing says male bonding like a memorable
sing-along or a raucous de-trousering—it’s how the wacky
comedy plays off an underlying sweetness that makes this a
side-splitting pleasure.
SUN 7/20 7 PM VOGUE | TUE 9 PM BOAT
FRI 9 PM LARS
BLACK COAL, THIN ICE
(BAI RI YAN HUO)
2014 | China, Hong Kong | NR | 106 min.
Heads up, noir fans—this one should be first on your list.
Moody with working-class despair, encroaching danger, and
pulp romantic fatalism, and set in a wintry industrial city
in Northern China, the top prize winner from this year’s
Berlin Film Festival is a powerfully controlled detective
thriller with no heroes and no villains. Five years after a
tragically botched arrest attempt of a suspect implicated in
the grisly discovery of dismembered human remains, an alcoholic ex-detective now working security in a coal factory
begins the old investigation anew when more body parts
are found. A knotty plot rewards mystery buffs’ concentrated efforts, and features a plethora of sublime cinematic
moments: a shootout the likes of which you’ve never seen;
a dazzling tracking shot that moves the story from 1999
to 2004; and a perfect, absurdist unexpected ending. In
Mandarin with subtitles
WED 9 PM MIL
BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
BLIND DATES (BRMA PAEMNEBI)
2013 | Georgia | NR | 95 min.
Forty-year-old schoolteacher Sandro still lives with his
parents in Tbilisi, in spite of his nagging mother’s insistence
that he grow up and find a wife. After joining his friend on
an unsuccessful blind double date, fate lends a hand when
he meets Manana, the mother of one of Sandro’s students,
and sparks soon fly. The only catch: Manana’s temperamental husband is set to be released from prison the next day.
Bound and determined not to miss out on his one chance
at true romance, Sandro will do whatever it takes to keep
in contact with Manana—even if that means aiding her
husband in some not-so-legal business. A sweet and compassionately human comedy-drama, Georgian New Wave
director Levan Koguashivili’s winning film is a tragicomic
look at the quest for true love and honor. In Georgian with
subtitles
SAT 9 AM OTP
2013 | France | NC-17 | 179 min.
Adèle (played by an unforgettable 19-year-old Adèle Exarchopoulos) comes of age in one
of the most explosive, intense, masterful, and quintessentially French films you’re ever likely
to see. The first Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner to deal with LGBT issues, based on
Julie Maroh’s graphic novel, and infamous for its sexually explicit encounters between the
two actresses, this epic story of love is not a single frame longer than it should be. Beautifully paced from the introduction of the high school protagonist and her electric first
encounter with blue-haired punk artist Emma, and on through the years, as class, career,
flirtations, and time erode their love. The sheer power of the truth acclaimed director Abdellatif Kechiche reveals about the ache of tumultuous relationships will leave you breathless and transformed. In French with subtitles
SAT 5 PM BIJ
FOREIGN
CHILD’S POSE (POZITIA COPILULUI)
2013 | Romania | NR | 112 min.
Winner of the top prize at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival,
this riveting psychological thriller is the latest in a string
of great dramas coming from Romania. In one of the best
performances you’ll see at the festival, Luminita Gheorghiu stars as Cornelia, a well-to-do retired architect
in Bucharest with a fanatical devotion to her only child,
thirty-something Barbu. When Barbu runs over and kills
a teenage boy in the suburbs, Cornelia will stop at nothing to save her “poor boy” from any jail time—even if it
means bribing witnesses, turning in false police reports, and
pressuring the victim’s family. Director Calin Peter Netzer
offers razor-sharp social satire in this brilliantly-wrought
film, a spellbinding drama about class, family, and obsession.
In Romanian with subtitles
FRI 12 NOON ST | SAT 9 PM OTP
CHINESE PUZZLE (CASSE-TÊTE
CHINOIS)
17
23
A COFFEE IN BERLIN
2013 | France | R | 117 min.
Acclaimed French director Cédric Klapisch (“My Piece of
the Pie,” TCFF ‘11) returns to the festival with the third
entry in his “Auberge Espagnole” trilogy, a lively, globetrotting rom-com following the romantic trials and tribulations
of perpetually restless writer Xavier (Romain Duris). When
his ex-wife of 10 years leaves Paris for greener pastures
in New York City and takes their children with her, Xavier
has no choice but to chase after her and make a go of it for
himself in America—despite having no job and no accommodations beyond his friend’s couch in Brooklyn. Whether
you’re new to the series or you’ve been following for years,
this lighthearted and playful gem, featuring top French
movie stars like Audrey Tautou, is sure to delight.
In French with subtitles
THU 3 PM LARS | SUN 3 PM COH
2012 | Germany | NR | 88 min.
The slacker cool of Jim Jarmusch meets shades of vintage
Woody Allen in this deadpan black-and-white comedy
following a day in the life of twentysomething law school
dropout Niko, who has been living off his father’s allowance
while waiting for life to come to him. Aimless and adrift after being indifferently dumped by his girlfriend, he wanders
the streets of Berlin with little in mind other than procuring a perpetually elusive cup of coffee, careening from
one absurd encounter to the next, until a chance meeting
with a girl from his past forces him to confront his live-forthe-moment attitude. Winner of six German Oscars and
a megahit throughout Europe, director Jan-Ole Gerster’s
clever breakout feature is a poetic look at life in the German capital that captures something quintessential about
the millennial generation and what it means to be young
today. In German with subtitles
FRI 9 AM OTP | SAT 9 PM MIL
EXCUSE MY FRENCH (LAMOAKHZA)
2014 | Egypt | NR | 99 min.
When young Hany’s father unexpectedly drops dead at the dinner table, he and his mother
discover that their upper-class family is massively in debt, and can no longer afford Hany’s
expensive private Christian education. Hany is dropped into a chaotic public school where
he finds himself well out of his comfort zone among rowdy classmates who mistake him for
a fellow Muslim. Desperate to do anything to fit in, Hany goes along with the misunderstanding. “Excuse My French” almost never saw the light of day after its script was held up
by censors for four years, but we’re glad it did: it’s a delightfully black comedy satirizing class
and religion in modern Egypt, and a snapshot of the lives of ordinary citizens in a nation
trapped in the throes of ongoing revolution. In Arabic with subtitles
THU 9 AM OTP | SAT 9 AM MIL
STATE
24
16
FOREIGN
FISHING WITHOUT NETS
2014 | Kenya, Somalia, USA | NR | 109 min.
On the coast of Somalia, Abdi’s family have long sustained
themselves as fishermen. But a recent surge in pollution,
droughts, and war have forced the normally upstanding
Abdi into a difficult situation. Desperate to make a better
life for his family, he reluctantly joins a local pirate crew
and sets out to hijack a passing French oil tanker, taking its
crew hostage. But how far will he go to earn his cut of the
ransom? An award winner at Sundance, this gripping docudrama plays like “Captain Phillips” from the pirates’ point
of view, as portrayed by a cast of Somali refugees (mainly
non-professional actors), offering mesmerizing and deeply
human portraits of life on a side of the world we rarely see.
In English, French, Somali with subtitles
WED 12 NOON ST | SUN 9 AM BIJ
A FIVE STAR LIFE (VIAGGIO SOLA)
2013 | Italy | NR | 85 min.
Forty-something Irene’s job description reads like a fantasy
come true: Traveling across Europe, visiting the most stunning cities and staying in the most lavish hotels, methodically evaluating her experience with a set of criteria that
encompasses everything from the softness of the sheets
to the temperature of the soup. But a dream job does not a
dream life make, and beneath the seeming glamour of her
career lies an emptiness that no amount of room service, plush robes, or luxury toiletries can ever hope to fill.
Following a shocking announcement from one of the few
people she holds dear, the perpetually unattached Irene
begins to reevaluate the choices she’s made. A sleeper hit
in Italy where star Margherita Buy’s quietly extraordinary
performance won the Italian Oscar, “A Five Star Life” is a
warm, wonderful, and beautiful trip definitely worth taking.
In Italian with subtitles
FRI 3 PM MIL | SAT 12 NOON LARS
THE GILDED CAGE (LA CAGE DORÉE)
THE GERMAN DOCTOR (WAKOLDA)
2013 | Argentina, France, Norway, Spain | PG-13 | 93 min.
A fictionalized account of a missing chapter in the life of
one of the 20th century’s most notorious war criminals,
this gripping drama opens in a German community in Patagonia in 1960. Josef Mengele (the “Angel of Death”) is hiding there following revelations of the cruel and inhumane
experiments performed on concentration camp inmates at
his behest. We meet Mengele through the eyes of twelveyear-old Lilith, whose family is unknowingly hosting the
fugitive in their hotel. During their time together, Mengele
takes a sinister interest in naïve Lilith, who proves a willing
party to his new experiments to help make her taller.
Argentina’s submission for Academy Award Nomination
for Best Foreign Language Film, “The German Doctor” is
a provocative thriller tinged with mystery and suspense. In
German, Spanish, Hebrew with subtitles
WED 7/23 7 PM GARDEN | THU 9 PM COH
FRI 12 NOON LARS
2013 | France | NR | 90 min.
A box office smash in France, this delightful comedy follows a working-class Portuguese
immigrant family in Paris headed by Maria, the concierge at a ritzy apartment complex,
and José, the hardworking foreman at a prominent construction company. In their 30-odd
years in France, they’ve made a modest but comfortable life in the service of others—so
much so that when they inherit a winery back in their native Portugal and have their lifelong dream tantalizingly within reach, everyone they’ve worked for starts scrambling to find
ways to keep them from leaving. As the son of Portuguese immigrants himself, writer-director Ruben Alves delivers a keenly observed comedy that satirizes stereotypes along cultural and class lines—a warm-hearted look at family and what it means to belong in society.
In English, French, Portuguese with subtitles
WED 6 PM COH | SUN 6 PM LARS
FOREIGN
25
I WON’T COME BACK (YA NE VERNUS)
2014 | Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Russia | NR | 109 min.
Each year we try to bring films that, despite their lack of eye-catching stars or high-concept plot devices, are so exquisitely and simply told that they stay with you long after the
credits roll. This is one of those films—a profoundly moving story of two girls on a heartfelt journey of mutual survival across a bleakly beautiful Russian landscape. Anya, a grad
student who suddenly finds herself on the run from the police, reluctantly gains a young
traveling companion in Kristina, an orphaned girl determined to reunite with the only family she has left. For different reasons, both girls cling to the hope of finding Kristina’s longlost grandmother, who may or may not be waiting at the end of the journey. It all leads to a
climax of such sheer poignancy that it will take your breath away. In Russian with subtitles
WED 6 PM BIJ | FRI 6 PM COH
THE HUNT (JAGTEN)
2012 | Denmark | R | 111 min.
Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s
Oscars, “The Hunt” is essential viewing that will make
you laugh, cry, and rage with uncontrollable fury all at
once. When a beloved kindergarten teacher is falsely accused of an unspeakable crime, his simple life is
shattered. Rumors become insinuations, insinuations become fact, and he is shunned by friends and family. The
incredible intensity of the great Mads Mikkelsen (TV’s
“Hannibal;” “A Royal Affair,” TCFF ’12), the man at the
center of this devastating witch-hunt, makes the chilling
tale of mob mentality and hysteria the kind of gripping
storytelling you just can’t shake. As riveting as any thriller, director Thomas Vinterberg’s film will draw you in and
take you down a road that is anything but expected. In
Danish with subtitles
THU 3 PM BIJ | SUN 6 PM OTP
THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES
(KVINDEN I BURET)
THE LUNCHBOX (DABBA)
2013 | Denmark, Germany, Sweden | NR | 97 min.
As fans of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “The
Killing” can attest, there’s no place like Scandinavia to
find the latest and greatest in hardboiled crime drama.
After a shootout leaves one partner paralyzed and the
other dead, former chief detective Carl Mørck finds
himself exiled from the homicide department to a desk
job in Department Q, where he is tasked with processing
and quickly closing cold case files. But the first case to
come across his desk proves too tantalizing to write off,
so the tenacious Mørck hits the streets with his assistant
Assad to investigate the supposed suicide of a prominent
female politician whose body vanished without a trace.
Their quest for justice leads to a sinister discovery in this
gripping and finely crafted Nordic noir, a tense mystery
full of twists. In Danish with subtitles
WED 6 PM MIL | THU 9 PM ST
2013 | France, Germany, India, US | PG | 105 min.
Mumbai’s Dabbawallahs are a community of 5,000
lunchbox deliverymen. Harvard University analyzed
their delivery system and concluded that just one in a
million lunchboxes ever gets delivered to the wrong
address. This is the story of that one lunchbox, and
how it connects a lonely stranger in the dusk of his life
with a young, neglected housewife trying to regain her
husband’s attention with special lunches. When her
husband doesn’t mention the new food she’s sending
daily, she puts a note in the lunchbox for him, only to
receive a reply from the stranger, whose appreciation
for her food is great. Thus begins a correspondence and
fantasy world which threatens to take over reality for
both parties in this Indian romance that is a bright, easyto-embrace crowd-pleaser basking in light humor and
emotional smarts. In English, Hindi with subtitles
FRI 12 NOON MIL
STATE
16
26
FOREIGN
MANOS SUCIAS
2014 | Colombia, USA | NR | 82 min.
Forget what you know about Colombian drug trafficking
movies. Executive produced by Spike Lee and shot entirely on location in the violent epicenter of Colombia’s drug
trade, director Josef Kubota Wladyka’s airtight drama
grabs you early on and doesn’t let go. We meet estranged
brothers Jacobo and Delio, who have little in common:
stern Jacobo is an experienced drug runner whose young
son was murdered after he mouthed off to a paramilitary
gang, while the uninitiated young Delio has an infant son at
home and dreams of being a rapper. Reunited by coincidence and tasked with towing millions of dollars worth of
cocaine behind a fishing boat to Panama along the dense
jungle coastline, the brothers must come together to avoid
certain death when the inevitable trouble arises. In Spanish
with subtitles
THU 3 PM COH | FRI 12 NOON OTP
MANUSCRIPTS DON’T BURN
(DAST-NEVESHTEHAA NEMISOOSAND)
2013 | Iran | NR | 127 min.
Iranian cinema has experienced a renaissance in recent
years—often shooting covertly, the country’s filmmakers
are turning their country’s political drama into incredibly powerful cinema. “Manuscripts Don’t Burn” is one of
the very best of these films. Writer-director Mohammad
Rasoulof (“Iron Island,” TCFF ‘06, “Head Wind,” TCFF ‘08,
“The White Meadows,” TCFF ‘11—can you tell we’re fans
of his work?) follows both the government operatives
assigned to terrorize, torture, and murder dissident writers
and intellectuals, as well as the old men who will soon be
their targets. The killers have problems of their own—one
is a desperate father who needs the contract killing work
to pay for his son’s operation. With the fraught mood (if
not the adrenaline pace) of a thriller, Rasoulof has created
a near perfect document on the horrors of censorship. In
Persian with subtitles
WED 3 PM OTP
THE PAST (LE PASSÉ)
OMAR
2013 | Occupied Palestinian Territory | NR | 98 min.
In a divided city in the West Bank of the Occupied Palestine Territories, twenty-something Omar won’t let a
separation wall or bullets fired by the Israeli Army keep him
from his childhood friends Tarek and Amjad, or his high
school love Nadja. Baker by day and resistance fighter by
night, Omar and his friends hatch a plan to attack an Israeli
soldier; in the aftermath, he is chased down, apprehended
and tortured before being released back to his friends. As
suspicions mount among his peers about his loyalty, Omar’s
already-fractured life is torn further asunder. Nominated
for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Oscars, this
gripping, action-packed drama from Palestinian director
Hany Abu-Assad (“Paradise Now,” TCFF ‘06) brings hard
truths about life under occupation and the price of resistance into stark relief. In Arabic, Hebrew with subtitles
SAT 9 AM ST
2013 | France, Iran, Italy | NR | 130 min.
Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s followup to his Oscar winner “A Separation” once again
proves the director’s mastery at crafting emotionally complex and intimate human dramas. Ahman leaves Tehran for Paris following a four-year separation from his estranged
wife Marie (Bérénice Bejo of “The Artist”), returning at her behest to finalize their divorce
so she can marry her new beau Samir. He finds a family in turmoil: Samir’s current wife is
in a coma; Marie is newly pregnant; and Lucie, Marie’s teenage daughter from a previous
marriage, resents her mother’s string of fleeting romances. Ahman’s presence in their lives
throws their troubles into sharp relief as everyone realizes it’s not so easy to break free
from the past. This Cannes Film Festival award winner is a powerful and nuanced masterpiece that will stay with you long after you leave the theater. In Persian, French with subtitles
THU 9 AM ST
FOREIGN
27
SNEAK PREVIEW: STATIONS OF THE CROSS (KREUZWEG)
2014 | Germany, France | NR | 107 min.
As a pious Catholic in modern Germany, fourteen-year-old Maria won’t let anything get
in the way of her devotion to her faith—even if it means being picked on at school and
missing out on the social life the other kids around her get to enjoy. Told in 14 chapters
mirroring the 14 stations of the cross (the stages of Christ’s condemnation to death), this
film follows Maria as she takes on the impossibly heavy burden of expectations from her
overbearing mother and extremely strict priest. But her zealous approach to religion and
desire to do the right thing leads her down a dangerous path of self-sacrifice. A carefully
crafted and darkly comic arthouse masterpiece about the dangers of religious conservatism, this absorbing film from acclaimed director Dietrich Brüggemann took home Best
Screenplay at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, and is at the top of the must-see list for this
year’s Traverse City Film Festival. In German with subtitles
WED 9 PM ST | SUN 9 PM MIL
PLAYING DEAD
(JE FAIS LE MORT)
2013 | France | NR | 104 min.
This witty, Agatha Christie-style whodunit
stars Belgian-born François Damiens as
a wisecracking, likeable lug of the Vince
Vaughn variety. Damiens is divorced and
broke, eeking out a living acting in ads for
diarrhea medicine, but over 20 years ago,
he won the coveted César award for Most
Promising Actor. He’s talented—he just
annoys everyone by turning each role into
an elaborate method acting exercise. Then
he lands a job in the French Alps playing
the victims in a homicide reenactment
(French courts use reenactments to test
the plausibility of case facts). While working the new gig, he falls for the attractive, no-nonsense magistrate in charge,
and stumbles into helping her solve the
crime he’s there to reenact. This smart,
frequently funny caper comedy is the
complete package: great acting, beautiful
scenery, and a playful score. In French with
subtitles
FRI 7/25 7 PM BAY THEATRE
SAT 9 PM LARS
SNOWPIERCER
2013 | South Korea | R | 125 min.
In the not-so-distant future, failed efforts
to halt global warming have left the Earth
frozen in a second ice age. Thanks to the
vision of a benevolent billionaire, the last
surviving members of the human race are
confined to a state-of-the-art train that
acts as a sort of Noah’s Ark, kept on a
perpetually speeding journey around the
globe. The train’s first class passengers
enjoy all the luxuries of a lavish life; for the
lower-class workers trapped in the rear
of the train, things aren’t quite so rosy.
Tired of being confined to the bottom
caste, Curtis (Chris Evans) rallies his ragtag
comrades to rebel against the ruling class,
which is led by an evil prime minister
tasked with maintaining the status quo
(Tilda Swinton, in a scene-stealing role).
One of the best sci-fi films in years, the
first English-language film from Korean
director Bong Joon-ho (“The Host,” TCFF
‘07) is a thrilling, action-packed dystopian
vision. In English, French, Japanese, Korean
with subtitles
WED 6 PM LARS | SAT 9 PM BOAT
SUN 9 PM ST
STILL LIFE
2013 | UK, Italy | NR | 92 min.
Quiet, unassuming John May (Eddie Marsan, in a pitch-perfect performance) has
held an unusual occupation for the past
20-odd years, tracking down the next of
kin to those who have died alone. Meticulous to a fault, John’s care and attention to
detail is deemed unnecessary in this age of
efficiency and he finds himself next in line
for downsizing. But before his inevitable
departure, he pursues one final assignment: finding the relatives of his elderly
neighbor Billy Stoke. When his journey to
piece together Billy’s past takes him outside London, he is shaken by an encounter
with a life that too closely mirrors his own
solitary existence. But then hope comes
when he finds an unexpected companion
in Billy’s estranged daughter Kelly (“Downton Abbey” regular Joanne Froggatt).
Winner of Best Director at the Venice
Film Festival, “Still Life” is a poignant drama that serves as a reminder that the best
moments of life are meant to be shared
with others.
WED 9 AM BIJ | FRI 9 PM MIL
THE VOLCANO
(EYJAFJALLAJÖKULL)
2013 | Belgium, France | NR | 92 min.
From the team that brought you the
TCFF ’10 favorite “Heartbreakers” and
the TCFF ’12 sensation “The Intouchables”
comes a zany and entertaining story of a
bitterly divorced couple (Valerie Bonneton
and French megastar Dany Boon) who
inadvertently cross paths while traveling to
Greece for their daughter’s wedding. As if
sharing airspace on the same 747 isn’t bad
enough, even though she’s in first-class,
and he’s in coach, the eruption of a certain
famously unpronounceable Icelandic volcano (Eyjafjallajokull, for inquiring minds)
grounds their flight plans. So the polar
opposites must swallow their pride and
work together to make their way, “Planes,
Trains, and Automobiles”-style, from Paris
to Greece. It’s got irresistible chemistry,
lively antics, scenic settings, and a raucously playful road-tripping premise—
what more could you ask for in a great
romantic comedy? In French with subtitles
THU 9 PM LARS | SUN 12 NOON ST
STATE
30
DOCUMENTARY
AL HELM: MARTIN LUTHER KING IN PALESTINE
2013 | USA, Occupied Palestinian Territory | NR | 96 min.
Offering a fresh perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, “Al Helm” (Arabic for “The
Dream”) follows an African-American Christian gospel choir as they team up with a troupe
from the Palestinian National Theater to perform a play about Martin Luther King, Jr.,
and spread the concept of equality through non-violence to the people of the West Bank.
Filmmaker Connie Field captures the power of art to change the way people think as
both the Americans and Palestinians find they have much to learn from each other in this
unique cultural exchange, providing new insight into life in Palestine under occupation and
how a young generation is changing the political conversation through non-violent acts
of protest.
THU 3 PM MIL | SUN 3 PM BIJ
112 WEDDINGS
2014 | USA | NR | 95 min.
For the last two decades, Doug Block has
supported his documentary filmmaking career by moonlighting as a wedding videographer. 112 weddings later, he has amassed
hundreds of hours of footage of couples
on their big day when their love was new
and energetic. But what are their marriages like years later? Who has kept the spark
and who has lost it? Block revisits nine
couples to see how their marriages are
(or aren’t) working out, asking the difficult
questions about what it takes to make a
relationship work. From ecstatic celebrations to intimate and candid present-day
interviews, “112 Weddings” explores love
and the true meaning of commitment with
curiosity, humor, and heart.
TUE 7/22 7 PM CHARLEVOIX
FRI 12 NOON COH | SUN 9 PM BIJ
1971
2014 | USA | NR | 80 min.
Joining the great genre of improbable
heist movies is the true story of government protestors who used the Muhammad
Ali-Joe Frazier fight at Madison Square
Garden as cover to handily defeat J. Edgar
Hoover’s FBI at the height of the Vietnam
War. Meet the members of The Citizens’
Commission to Investigate the FBI, who
used crowbars instead of computers to
expose government records to the media
in March, 1971. Retold by the participants,
confessing on camera for the first time,
and through archival footage combined
with compelling reenactments, we see
the fascinating parallels between Edward
Snowden, Julian Assange, and this small
group of dedicated academic activists who
exposed thousands of files from a regional
FBI office.
WED 12 NOON COH
BENDING THE LIGHT
2014 | Japan, USA | NR | 60 min.
From renowned director and TCFF Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Michael
Apted (“56 Up,” TCFF ’13) comes a revealing and marvelous look at the heart and
science of image making. Taking you on a
passionate journey, “Bending the Light”
explores the divinely harmonious relationship between the artisans who craft
camera lenses and the masters who use
lenses to reflect humanity’s hopes, fears,
and dreams. Whether peering into the
infinite vastness of the solar system, freezing a beautiful moment in time, or creating
indelible moving images that live within
our hearts and minds, they paint with
light in an attempt to create transcendent
understanding. A must-see for anyone
with an interest in the photographic arts,
this poetic and soulful film will astound you
with its breathtakingly beautiful imagery.
In English, Japanese with subtitles
SUN 12 NOON OTP
BRONX OBAMA
2013 | USA | NR | 92 min.
Louis Ortiz was an unemployed single
father living in the Bronx when his fate
changed for the better: after shaving off
his goatee, people noticed he was a dead
ringer for President Barack Obama. Capitalizing on his resemblance to the POTUS,
Ortiz honed his Obama act with the help
of a casting agent who manages a group
of political impersonators (including Mitt
Romney and a sleazy Bill Clinton), and hit
the road in pursuit of an unlikely version of
the American Dream. First time director
Ryan Murdock follows Ortiz’s story with
humor and heart, charting his transformation and the obstacles he overcomes
alongside the changes taking place in
America during Obama’s first two terms in
office. Along the way, we discover something interesting about what it means to
be someone you’re not.
FRI 3 PM COH
DOCUMENTARY
31
DINOSAUR 13
2014 | USA | PG | 95 min.
In the Badlands of South Dakota in the summer of 1990, a team of amateur paleontologists led by Peter Larson made the discovery of a lifetime: the world’s largest and most
complete T. Rex fossil, which the team named “Sue” after the volunteer who first spotted
the dinosaur. But Larson’s joy was short lived—an epic legal battle soon began over the
rights to Sue, with Larson’s team, the US government, and Native American tribes each
claiming ownership of the fossil. Director Todd Douglas Miller’s compelling documentary
follows this stranger-than-fiction David vs. Goliath story over the course of a decade, as
working class dreams are attacked by governmental and corporate powers.
MON 7/21 7 PM PETOSKEY | THU 12 NOON ST | SAT 3 PM LARS
THE CASE AGAINST 8
2014 | USA | NR | 109 min.
In 2008, the passing of Proposition 8
revoked marriage rights for same-sex
couples in California just months after the
state Supreme Court legalized it. Here’s
your all-access pass behind the scenes of
the five-year journey to overturn Proposition 8, a landmark legal battle over one
of the most vital civil rights issues of our
time. This rousing Sundance award winner
by filmmakers Ben Cotner and Ryan White
follows history in the making from the
very beginning of the battle to the climatic
moment when two LGBT activist couples
and their larger-than-life lawyers from
opposite sides of the political spectrum
(who had previously butted heads in the
2000 Bush v. Gore case) team up together
to beat the right wing, in front of a right
wing Supreme Court.
THU 12 NOON COH
CASTING BY
2012 | USA | NR | 89 min.
If you love the movies, you will love this
documentary, end of story. A look into
one of the most critical, most unsung, and
most misunderstood roles in filmmaking,
the amazing story of casting director
Marion Dougherty takes center stage
in this illuminating behind-the-scenes
doc. An iconoclast who changed the face
of Hollywood with her impeccable taste
and incomparable instincts, she brought
a different kind of actor into the movies,
making choices based not on looks but
rather on the ability to create compelling characters. Among her discoveries
were James Dean, Al Pacino, and Dustin
Hoffman. Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese,
Robert Redford, Jeff Bridges, and other
filmmaking luminaries weigh in on the
crucial role casting directors play in the
creative process and the destiny-changing,
career-launching power they possess.
FRI 9 AM MIL
DANGEROUS ACTS STARRING THE UNSTABLE ELEMENTS OF BELARUS
2013 | Belarus, UK, USA | NR | 76 min.
Belarus is home to the last surviving
dictatorship in Europe. Following the
dubious reelection of President Alexander Lukashenko in 2010, a new voice
of protest against the regime emerges
in the form of the Belarus Free Theatre,
a world-renowned performance group
that defies the censors at home through
underground performances. But as the
resistance movement in the country gains
steam on stage and in the streets, the
government’s increased crackdown on
dissenters means the troupe risks exile,
imprisonment, or worse each time they
perform. Director Madeleine Sackler captures a country fighting for historic change
in this rousing documentary, a brave and
provocative look at art as a weapon against
oppression. In Belarusian, English, Russian
with subtitles
THU 9 AM BIJ
DON’T LEAVE ME (NE ME
QUITTE PAS)
2013 | Belgium, Netherlands | NR | 107 min.
Give this film a chance and you’ll learn
something new about men (the species),
laugh yourself silly, and find your American sensibilities being assaulted in the
most thought-provoking ways. It’s hard to
believe this deadpan movie by two Dutch
filmmakers is a documentary—it doesn’t
seem like any filmmaker could get such
intimate access into the life of a bitter yet
impossibly likable man living in the forests
of isolated southern Belgium, much less
two such men who have pitch-perfect
chemistry as they stumble through life
drowning their sorrows in booze. An infectiously lighthearted portrait of alcoholic
friends who want to commit suicide, “Don’t
Leave Me” plays like an upbeat “Waiting
for Godot” set to a bouncy rockabilly
soundtrack; it’s the ultimate absurdist buddy comedy with brains. Do not miss this
film. In French, Dutch with subtitles
WED 9 AM OTP | THU 6 PM COH
STATE
32
DOCUMENTARY
FINDING VIVIAN MAIER
2013 | USA | NR | 83 min.
One of the year’s great films, “Finding Vivian Maier” tells the story of a working class
woman who photographed life on the street as she saw it. A nanny by trade, Vivian Maier
secretly held a passion for photography, leaving behind a legacy of over 100,000 photos
that may have vanished into obscurity had they not caught the eye of amateur historian
John Maloof (one of the film’s co-directors). Teaming up with filmmaker Charlie Siskel,
Maloof sets out on a journey across New York, France, and Chicago to uncover the mysteries of one of the 20th century’s great unknown photographers. In English, French with
subtitles
FRI 9 PM BOAT | SAT 12 NOON ST | SUN 9 AM MIL
FED UP
2014 | USA | PG | 92 min.
Katie Couric narrates this surprising
exposé of the food industry, offering a
unique take on a story that, as she recalls,
began many years ago as a small sidebar
about increasing obesity among Americans. Now a huge story that she and her
fellow TV journalists cover constantly,
Couric and filmmaker Stephanie Soechtig
set out to uncover the reasons why the
next generations of American kids are
likely to have shorter life spans than their
parents, despite media attention, the
public’s fascination with appearance, and
government policies to combat childhood
obesity. By following the battles of three
obese children to lose weight, through
interviews with top experts in the field,
and by using sharp examination of data
gathered over the course of 30 years,
“Fed Up” aims to change the way you think
about sugar and the way you eat.
WED 3 PM LARS
A GOAT FOR A VOTE
2014 | Netherlands | NR | 50 min.
What does democracy look like through
the eyes of a teenager in rural Kenya? This
charming and enlightening documentary follows three students through their
campaigns to become class president,
which will not only earn them the respect
of their peers but could also be a stepping
stone to greater things in Kenyan society.
On the ballot are the popular and well-todo Said, who writes a catchy rap song for
his campaign; Harry, who tries to bribe his
classmates with goat meat; and Magdalene,
who rallies her fellow female students in
an attempt to become the first girl president of her school. Expertly directed by
filmmaker Jeroen van Velzen, “A Goat for
a Vote” is a thoughtful and entertaining
look at the democratic process. In English,
Swahili with subtitles
SAT 3 PM BIJ
HAPPY VALLEY
2014 | USA | NR | 100 min.
For many of the citizens of State College,
home to Penn State University, college
football is a religion, and for four decades,
Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno was their
patron saint—until November 2011, when
longtime assistant coach Jerry Sandusky
was charged with over 40 counts of child
sex abuse, shattering Paterno’s legacy
under allegations that he turned a blind
eye to immoral behavior. Director Amir
Bar-Lev (“The Tillman Story,” TCFF ‘10
and “12-12-12,” TCFF ‘14) delves beyond
the public perception of the controversy
to show how it affected lives in Penn State
and the surrounding community, and asks
bigger questions about how we choose our
heroes and what happens when college
football becomes a way of life.
FRI 9 AM BIJ
THE INTERNET’S OWN
BOY: THE STORY OF
AARON SWARTZ
2014 | USA | NR | 105 min.
As a teenage programming prodigy, Aaron
Swartz emerged on the tech scene at the
tender age of 14 when he helped author
the now-ubiquitous blogging technology RSS. Just a few short years later, he
became a major voice for an open internet
by helping to create the alternate-copyright platform Creative Commons, and
co-founding Reddit. His unquenchable
thirst for knowledge and passion for
freedom of information set him on a path
to become one of the pioneers of internet
activism. But shortly after being prosecuted by the FBI for his efforts in making millions of academic articles publicly available,
Swartz tragically took his life at the age of
26. Director Brian Knappenberger (“We
Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists,”
TCFF, ‘12) pays tribute to Swartz’s life in
this timely, powerful documentary, a mustsee for anyone invested in the future of a
free and open internet.
THU 3 PM OTP
DOCUMENTARIES
IVORY TOWER
2014 | USA | PG-13 | 97 min.
With college tuition fees skyrocketing, student loan debt
passing the trillion dollar mark, and recent graduates struggling to find employment, where are the young adults of
today to turn for a worthwhile higher education? Filmmaker Andrew Rossi (“Page One: Inside the New York Times”)
traverses the country to provide a panoramic view of education in America during a period of monumental change,
profiling traditional universities as well as online courses,
free schools, and other alternatives to the standard model.
A must-see for anyone with an interest in our country’s
education system, “Ivory Tower” questions the increasingly
outrageous costs of college education and the burden that
business-driven university administrations place on our
society.
WED 3 PM MIL | SUN 9 AM LARS
LETTERS TO JACKIE: REMEMBERING
PRESIDENT KENNEDY
2013 | USA | NR | 88 min.
Fifty years after the country was brought to its knees
following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy,
“Letters to Jackie” pays timely tribute to the president’s
life, revisiting America in the 60s and the enduring legacy
of a beloved presidency. In the two months following the
assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy received over 800,000
letters from average American citizens offering condolences to the First Lady and mourning the loss of a great leader.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Bill Couturié artfully combines
archival footage with Kennedy family home movies, set to
vivid readings of the letters by an all-star cast of actors, to
create a portrait of the hopes, dreams, and promise for a
better future that Kennedy signified to many in our nation.
Bring Kleenex.
WED 12 NOON MIL | FRI 12 NOON BIJ
17
33
LIFE ITSELF
2014 | USA | NR | 112 min.
Told largely in his own words, Roger Ebert’s legendary life
spent at the movies now has the big-screen treatment it so
richly deserves. Combining the reminisces of family, friends,
and the filmmakers whose careers he touched, “Life Itself”
takes you from Ebert’s days as a college newspaperman, to
his gin-soaked newsman era at the Sun-Times and life as
a Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic and populist TV pundit, to regaining his voice online after losing it to cancer.
Director Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) was given considerable access to Ebert in the final months of his life, and
while Ebert’s death looms large over the film, so does his
unwavering passion for the movies, a love that inspired us
all. Imbued with the same wit, honesty, and empathetic revelations his reviews were famous for, this is a movie of such
devastatingly beautiful emotion, we can’t help but think he
would have given it a thumbs up.
THU 3 PM ST | SUN 12 NOON COH
LOVE AND TERROR ON THE HOWLING PLAINS
OF NOWHERE
2014 | USA | NR | 95 min.
In 2006, Dr. Steven Haataja had just settled into his new post as a math professor at the
local college in the sleepy town of Chadron, population 5,600, in the far western plains of
Nebraska. Later that year, he would disappear without a trace—until his body was discovered three months later, burned beyond recognition. The gruesome discovery sets the
town reeling, with conspiracy theories running rampant and locals eager to weigh in with
their suspicions. Following the lead of author Poe Ballantine—whose acclaimed memoir
inspired the film—filmmaker Dave Jannetta smartly leads us through the “Twin Peaks”-like
community of Chadron and the unsolved mystery of Haataja’s bizarre death, with morbid
humor and a keen eye for eccentric characters.
FRI 9 PM BIJ | SAT 6 PM OTP
STATE
34
16
DOCUMENTARIES
MEET THE PATELS
2014 | USA | PG | 88 min.
Fresh off a breakup that leaves his heart and head spinning, first-generation Indian-American Ravi Patel has had
enough of contemporary courtship and starts to consider finding a wife the old-fashioned way—by enlisting
the help of his matchmaking parents. As he embarks on
a cross-country dating odyssey, Ravi’s sister joins him
to document the matrimonial conventions, awkward
setups, and surprising twists along the way. Without a
doubt one of the most laugh-out-loud and joyous documentaries we’ve seen this year, Ravi’s sweetly-meddling,
advice-spouting, larger-than-life parents (who upon first
arriving in the US landed in Houghton, MI) will delight you
with their bighearted embrace. But behind its light tone,
the film is not only a testament to the travails of modern
love, but also a universal look at the struggle between
upholding tradition and forging our own paths.
FRI 6 PM LARS | SAT 3 PM ST
MISSION BLUE
2014 | USA | G | 95 min.
Majestic underwater photography and an essential environmental message make this compelling portrait of a true
American pioneer one of the most enlightening, stunning,
and inspiring documentaries we’ve seen this year. Dr. Sylvia
Earle is a living legend; as an oceanographer, explorer, and
eco-activist, she broke barriers as a scientist in a community that had a hard time seeing her as more than a
pretty girl in a swim suit. Feeling most at home underwater,
Earle’s exuberant exploration of the deep seas has led to
unprecedented discoveries. And now nearing 80 years old,
with 7,000+ hours spent underwater, Earle is one of the
foremost advocates for our imperiled oceans, whose poor
conditions portend potentially disastrous implications for
human life. Join Dr. Earle on her globetrotting mission to
create “Hope Spots” protected from human interference,
and her infectious passion will leap off the screen and into
your heart.
FRI 6 PM MIL | SUN 3:30 PM LARS
THE NEWBURGH STING
MITT
2014 | USA | NR | 92 min.
Allowed unprecedented access to Michigan-native Mitt
Romney on the campaign trail—and complete creative
control over the resulting documentary, provided no
footage was released until after the 2012 presidential election—filmmaker Greg Whiteley delivers an amazingly candid portrait of the life of a major presidential hopeful. With
a fly-on-the-wall approach, this fascinating documentary
downplays the politics in favor of showing the man behind
the public figure, capturing small moments between Romney and his close-knit family with home movie-like intimacy over the course of six years and two failed campaigns
—from his besting at the primaries by John McCain in
2008 to the eventual loss to Barack Obama in 2012. Both
revelatory and humanizing, this absorbing documentary will
show you Mitt in a whole new light.
WED 9 AM ST | SUN 6 PM BIJ
2014 | USA | NR | 80 min.
If you like outrageously unbelievable true stories, documented by seemingly irrefutable
footage, this movie will blow your mind. In 2009, a Pakistani FBI informant posing as a rich
business man secretly recorded hours of incriminating conversations in his BMW and Mercedes with four black Muslim men from poverty-stricken Newburgh, as he helped coerce
them into bombing synagogues and a National Guard Air Base by promising a big payday.
Using shocking FBI surveillance footage, directors David Heilbroner and Kate Davis carefully reconstruct the evidence that points increasingly to a government set-up, mounting
a strong counter-argument against the media’s portrayal of the men as cold, calculating
terrorists. A stunning exposé on the lengths the American government will go in the name
of the “War on Terror,” “The Newburgh Sting” is an impassioned look at a perceived miscarriage of justice.
THU 12 NOON BIJ
DOCUMENTARY
35
RICH HILL
2014 | USA | NR | 91 min.
Winner of the US Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, “Rich Hill” is a quintessential portrait of America in 2014 told through the eyes of three teenage boys in Rich Hill,
MO—a town with a population of just under 1,400 and a poverty rate of 19%; a place like
many others in our country where the middle class has been destroyed and the working
class is fighting to stay above the poverty line. Through the skillful and sensitive lenses of
filmmaking cousins Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palmero, we are introduced to
the lives of Harley, Andrew, and Appachey, and the stubborn optimism with which they
navigate the difficult road through adolescence and bravely confront their circumstances.
“Rich Hill” is truly stunning achievement of cinema and an ode to the resilient spirit that is
alive and well in rural America, in spite of grim economic conditions.
SAT 3 PM COH | SUN 3 PM OTP
THE OVERNIGHTERS
2013 | USA | NR | 100 min.
The limits of “Love Thy Neighbor” and
the American Dream are tested in this
superior, richly layered, searingly American
documentary about a small town turned
boomtown after hydraulic fracturing uncovers a rich oil field in North Dakota. Tens
of thousands of unemployed men descend
on the state, only to find slim work prospects and nowhere to sleep. Meanwhile, in
the nearby small town of Williston, Pastor
Reinke believes it is his duty to turn his Lutheran Church into a makeshift dorm and
counseling center for the migrants each
night. Much of the community opposes
his approach, and even want to deny the
homeless any services. Filmmaker Jesse
Moss spent two years embedded in Williston to make this devastating masterpiece,
complete with a twist ending you probably
won’t see coming.
SAT 12 NOON MIL | SUN 9 AM OTP
POINT AND SHOOT
2014 | USA | NR | 83 min.
This year’s winner of the award for Best
Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival,
“Point and Shoot” tells the engrossing
story of Matthew VanDyke, a timid young
American with OCD who traveled across
the Middle East for a self-described “crash
course in manhood,” filming every step of
the way. His journey eventually led him to
Libya, where he became perhaps the most
unlikely member of the revolution against
Gadhafi. Camera in one hand, gun in the
other, Matthew captured the fight on the
front lines—until being taken prisoner
and held in solitary confinement for six
months. A remarkably gifted storyteller,
director Marshall Curry (“If a Tree Falls,”
winner of the Founders Award for Best
Documentary at TCFF ‘11) skillfully combines VanDyke’s footage with interviews
that offer insight into his personal transformation, and examine ideas of masculinity and what drives people to take part
in war.
WED 12 NOON BIJ
PRINT THE LEGEND
2014 | USA | NR | 100 min.
The emerging field of 3D printing has been
described as “the next Industrial Revolution;” a uniquely disruptive technology that
is poised to change the world’s commerce
by enabling people to manufacture objects
in their homes. This engrossing documentary follows two companies vying for position on the cusp of history as they race to
bring 3D printing to the home user, with
everything from the print-your-own-gun
controversy to the ability to print human
organs. Filmmakers Luis Lopez and Clay
Tweel offer an early behind-the-scenes
look at this fascinating emerging technology, capturing a compelling tale about
what it takes to live the American Dream
in the modern world.
FRI 6 PM BIJ
RETURN TO HOMS
2013 | Germany, Syria | NR | 87 min.
In the western Syria city of Homs lives
Basset, a charismatic, 19-year-old goalkeeper for the Syrian national soccer team
and talented singer/songwriter. His friend
Ossama, a 24-year-old media activist and
pacifist, works with Basset for peaceful liberation from their country’s brutal regime.
For two years starting in 2011, filmmaker
Talal Derki followed the two friends as
they navigated lively protest parties, panicking citizens on the run, grim battles in a
deserted city, and rising numbers of fallen
loved ones, while their beloved home city
crumbled around them. Meanwhile, they
turn from peaceful protest to become
rebel insurgents. With no narration or
soundtrack other than Basset’s songs,
Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner “Return to Homs” is a shockingly visceral look
at the excitement of protest, the painful
dilemma of duty, and, most of all, the horror of war. In Arabic with subtitles
WED 9 PM BIJ
STATE
36
DOCUMENTARY
SLOW FOOD STORY
2013 | Ireland, Italy | NR | 74 min.
The tale of a revolution more than 25 years in the making, “Slow Food Story” charts the
titular anti-fast food movement led by Carlo Petrini from its inception in 1986, spurred
by the opening of a McDonald’s in the heart of historic Rome, to its current global status
with members in over 150 countries. This charming documentary follows the slow food
movement’s growth under the charismatic leadership of Petrini from his picturesque
hometown in Piedmont, Italy, as his lively and vibrant brand of environmental activism
earns the cause high-profile supporters, including Alice Waters and Michael Pollen. Sure
to speak to the hearts, minds, and stomachs of Michigan foodies, and anyone with a passion for eating well. In Italian with subtitles
WED 6 PM OTP
RUNNING FROM CRAZY
2013 | USA | NR | 100 min.
Behind the literary prowess at the heart
of Ernest Hemingway’s legacy also lies the
“terrible curse” of suicide that continues to
haunt the family to this day. Mariel Hemingway, Ernest’s granddaughter, looks back
on the more than seven suicides in her
immediate family, with special attention
paid to the untimely death of her supermodel sister Margaux. Revealing hidden
family secrets, Mariel strives to understand how, in spite of having experienced
depression and suicidal thoughts firsthand,
she can keep herself and her daughters
from surrendering to the same fate. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara
Kopple (“Harlan County USA”) crafts an
open-hearted and wise film that uses
home movies and rare archival footage to
offer unique insights into a famously troubled family, as Mariel breaks down taboos
about mental health issues while advocating for suicide prevention.
WED 3 PM BIJ
SILENCED
2014 | USA | NR | 103 min.
”I’m fighting to have my September 10
country back,” says Jesselyn Radack, one
of the three government whistleblowers to speak out for the first time in this
film by Academy Award-nominee James
Spione. Muscled out of the Justice Department after releasing emails regarding
John Walker Lindh, Radack now works on
whistleblower cases like those of Thomas Drake, who exposed illegal spying on
American citizens, and John Kiriakou,
the first CIA agent to publicly confirm
the use of torture in terrorism interrogations. Only 11 Americans have ever
been charged under the Espionage Act of
1917; eight of those charges have been
filed since President Obama took office.
Particularly resonant in the post-Snowden
era, “Silenced” is an impassioned defense
of whistleblowers as an essential part of a
healthy democracy.
THU 6 PM OTP
SUPERMENSCH: THE LEGEND OF SHEP GORDON
2013 | USA | R | 84 min.
Mike Myers’ directorial debut is a fascinating portrait of one of the most wellknown managers in Hollywood, yet a man
few outside show business know—the
legendary Shep Gordon. He’s managed
great bands, produced movies, and even
invented the “celebrity chef.” Myers’ documentary is a fascinating look at both the
wheeling and dealing of the entertainment
industry and the concept of what constitutes a friend or mentor in show business.
You’ll especially like the part covering his
time in Detroit, including the story of how
Detroit made Alice Cooper famous. Told
by his friends Michael Douglas, Sylvester
Stallone, Willie Nelson, Anne Murray,
Emeril Lagasse, and Steven Tyler, Gordon’s
storied career is by turns funny, revealing,
shocking, and, when covering his recent
years in Hawaii, moving and profound.
THU 9 PM BOAT | SAT 3 PM MIL
SUN 6 PM COH
TO BE TAKEI
2014 | USA | NR | 90 min.
“Star Trek” icon. LGBT activist. Internet sensation. The remarkable life and
career of George Takei is chronicled in
this crowd-pleasing documentary of camp
and conviction. Boldly going from stock
player to beloved pop culture figure and
gay rights advocate, today Takei is perhaps
best known not for his groundbreaking
work as Sulu on “Star Trek,” but for regaling his millions of social media followers
with his candor and wicked wit. With a
contagious optimism, despite a childhood
spent in WWII Japanese-American internment camps, Takei’s inspiring second act
also finds him and his husband Brad (their
playful bickering is a sitcom waiting to
happen) as the unlikely poster couple for
marriage equality. Touching and hilarious,
Takei’s tireless crusade for equal rights is
an exhilarating quest for liberty and love.
WED 9 PM BOAT | THU 9 PM MIL
DOCUMENTARIES
TWO RAGING GRANNIES
2013 | Denmark, Italy, Norway | NR | 78 min.
Who would have thought that one of the best explanations
of modern day capitalism would come from two women
who grew up during the Great Depression? Armed with
curious minds, common sense, and the audacity to ask
straightforward questions, Shirley (90) and Hinda (84)
set out on their scooters to journey across the USA from
Seattle to Wall Street, aiming to figure out how we got
into the current financial crisis and just how messed up our
economy really is. With humor, heart, and a fair amount
of friendly bickering, “Two Raging Grannies” follows their
search for answers (in plain English!) as they meet everyone from economists to homeless people to investment
bankers, asking whether our current model of perpetual
economic growth is sustainable.
SAT 12 NOON COH | SUN 6 PM MIL
THE UNKNOWN KNOWN
2013 | USA | PG-13 | 102 min.
With a typically unconventional approach, Academy
Award-winning director Errol Morris offers a thoroughly
fascinating look at the life of Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush who left a lasting
legacy as the principal architect of the Iraq War. Comprised
largely of extended interviews with Rumsfeld himself, “The
Unknown Known” charts Rumsfeld’s long history in Washington, from his roles as ambassador under Nixon and Secretary of State under Ford to his return to politics during
the Bush years, allowing Rumsfeld to explain his decisions
and philosophies. The result is less a political commentary
than it is an examination of the dual-edged power of language, which can be used as a tool for diplomacy or for evil.
SAT 9 AM BIJ
17
37
VIRUNGA
2014 | UK | NR | 97 min.
The home to the world’s only remaining population of wild
mountain gorillas lies in Virunga National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site deep in the Democratic Republic
of Congo. In this most precious of places, it’s no surprise
that corruption and greed threaten destruction and death,
as many forces vie for control over the lucrative natural
resources underground. The last line of defense against
these devastating forces is a group of fiercely dedicated
park rangers and journalists who stand guard over the park
and its inhabitants, wielding guns, hidden cameras, and
the mighty pen to protect the park’s precious and delicate
ecosystem. Director Orlando von Einsiedel shows us the
park when Congo’s largest rebel group declares war on the
government, just one of the dangers posed by the ongoing political and environmental crisis in Congo. In English,
French, Swahili with subtitles
THU 12 NOON MIL | FRI 3 PM BIJ
WALKING UNDER WATER
2014 | Germany, Poland, UK | NR | 76 min.
Some of the most beautiful cinematography ever to hit TCFF screens awaits you in this
remarkable portrait of an endearing uncle and his nephew, who live in a culture so foreign
to us that it’s both enlightening and bewildering to enter their world. Alexan (the uncle)
happens to be the only remaining Badjao compressor diver on Mabul Island near Borneo—
and as we find out, there’s more than one reason why he’s the last of his kind. As his nephew Sari struggles to choose between his uncle’s traditional life at harmony with the sea and
working in the nearby resort, you’ll find it hard to believe that anyone ever made a living
this way. Meanwhile, back in his home perched on the edge of the ocean, Alexan’s wife is
a whole other kettle of amusing trouble. Made to be viewed on the big screen with contemplative moments and deep thoughts throughout, “Walking Under Water” is a unique
opportunity to go someplace beautiful and extremely “other.” In Badjao with subtitles
THU 9 AM MIL
2014 FILM
SCHEDULE
AUGUST 1
FRIDAY
JULY 31
THURSDAY
JULY 30
WEDNESDAY
JULY 29
TUESDAY
Your complete guide
to films at the festival
6:00 pm
10:00 pm
AUGUST 2
SATURDAY
AUGUST 3
CITY OPERA
HOUSE
OLD TOWN
PLAYHOUSE
LARS
HOCKSTAD
La gran familia española
7:30 pm
9:00 am
Mitt
(9:30 am) Panel: The Class of ‘89
Don’t Leave Me
(9:30 am) Shorts for Kids 1
12 noon
Fishing Without Nets
1971 CS
Shorts by MSU Students
Land Ho!
3:00 pm
5 to 7
Short Narratives 1
Manuscripts Don’t Burn
Fed Up
6:00 pm
Palo Alto
9:00 pm
SNEAK PREVIEW:
12 midnight
Stations of the Cross
CS
The Gilded Cage
Slow Food Story
Snowpiercer
Coherence
Doug Loves Movies Podcast
The One I Love
The Babadook
Summer of Blood
9:00 am
The Past
(9:30 am) Panel: 10 Things We Want to Say
If You Promise Not to Record This Panel
12 noon
Dinosaur 13
The Case Against 8
CS
Excuse My French
(9:30 am) Pim & Pom: The
Big Adventure
Shorts by U of M Students
Fading Gigolo
Chinese Puzzle
3:00 pm
Life Itself
Manos Sucias
The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
6:00 pm
Sister
Don’t Leave Me
Silenced
TBA
9:00 pm
The Keeper of Lost Causes
The German Doctor
Wild Canaries
The Volcano
12 midnight
Creep
Shorts for Midnight
9:00 am
TBA
(9:30 am) Panel: We Don’t Make American Films
A Coffee in Berlin
(9:30 am) Shorts for Kids 2
12 noon
Child’s Pose
Manos Sucias
The German Doctor
3:00 pm
Traverse City Film Festival Around
the World
112 Weddings
Bronx Obama CS
Short Narratives 2
Sister
6:00 pm
CENTERPIECE:
I Won’t Come Back
Rubber Soul
Meet the Patels
9:00 pm
Life of Crime
Hellion
An Evening with Larry Charles
The Bachelor Weekend
12 midnight
SUNDAY
STATE
THEATRE
Calvary
Doug Benson’s Movie Interruption:
Road House
Der Samurai
(9:30 am) Thunder and the House
9:00 am
Omar
(9:30 am) Panel: We Chose Not to Make You Cry
Blind Dates
of Magic
12 noon
Finding Vivian Maier
Two Raging Grannies CS
Short Documentaries
A Five Star Life
3:00 pm
Meet the Patels
Rich Hill CS
Coherence
Dinosaur 13
6:00 pm
TBA
Love Is Strange
Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere
Life of Crime
9:00 pm
Fading Gigolo
TBA
Child’s Pose
Playing Dead
12 midnight
9:00 am
Zombeavers
The Canal
LaDonna Harris: Indian 101
(9:30 am) Panel: One on One With...???
The Overnighters
Ivory Tower
12 noon
The Volcano
Life Itself
Bending the Light CS
Mike’s Surprise
3:00 pm
Lonesome with the Alloy Orchestra
Chinese Puzzle
Rich Hill
(3:30 pm) Mission Blue
6:00 pm
CLOSING NIGHT:
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
The Hunt
The Gilded Cage
9:00 pm
Snowpiercer
The One I Love
Hellion
5 to 7
Magic in the Moonlight
MILLIKEN
AUDITORIUM
BIJOU
BY THE BAY
THE
BUZZ
DUTMERS
THEATER
OPEN
SPACE
Tuesday
at Dusk!
Jaws
Love Is Strange
Still Life
Good Driver Smetana
Letters to Jackie: Remembering President Kennedy
Point and Shoot
Please Vote for Me with West Bank Story
Tillie’s Punctured Romance
Ivory Tower
Running from Crazy
Profit motive and the whispering wind
Purgatorio: A Journey Into the Heart of the Border
The Keeper of Lost Causes
I Won’t Come Back
12-12-12
Focus on Infinity
Black Coal, Thin Ice
Return to Homs
La maison de la radio
Shorts from the Ann Arbor Film Festival
Walking Under Water
Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable
Elements of Belarus
Web Junkie
Virunga
The Newburgh Sting
5 Broken Cameras
Al Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine
The Hunt CS
Men at Work
Short Experimental Films
Cold in July
Blue Ruin
Keep On Keepin’ On
The Forgotten Space
To Be Takei
Summer of Blood
Fishtail
Karpotrotter
Casting By
Happy Valley
Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?
The Lunchbox
Letters to Jackie: Remembering President Kennedy
The Hand That Feeds CS
Yesterday and Tomorrow in Detroit
A Five Star Life
Virunga
10%: What Makes a Hero?
Mission Blue
Print the Legend
Fishtail
Karpotrotter
Still Life
Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere
Troubled Water
Excuse My French
The Unknown Known
Storied Streets
The Overnighters
Bag of Rice
Keep On Keepin’ On
Focus on Infinity
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
A Goat for a Vote
The Hand That Feeds
Shorts from the Ann Arbor Film Festival
Land Ho!
(5:00 pm) Blue Is the Warmest Color
The Broken Circle Breakdown
A Coffee in Berlin
Wild Canaries
12-12-12
Fishing Without Nets
Face to Face
On Approval
Rubber Soul
The Edukators
The Forgotten Space
TBA
Al Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine CS
The Lab
Karpotrotter
Two Raging Grannies
Mitt
Fishtail
SNEAK PREVIEW:
112 Weddings
Castaway on the Moon
Stations of the Cross
CS
Cinema Salon
Part of our outdoor discussion series.
Wednesday
at Dusk!
Jurassic Park
Thursday
at Dusk!
Casablanca
Friday
at Dusk!
Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope™
Saturday
at Dusk!
The Goonies
Sunday
at Dusk!
The Wizard of Oz
ACTIVITY SCHEDULE
2014 FESTIVAL GUIDE
MOVIES ON
A BOAT
See page 15
DEPARTS at 9 pm
from the Clinch
Marina Gas Dock
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
JULY 29
JULY 30
The Bachelor Weekend
12:00 pm
FILM SCHOOL
See page 71
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
JULY 31
AUGUST 1
Snowpiercer
The One I Love
What’s Up, Doc?
Green Screen Workshop
Persistent Struggle:
Politics & Art of
Black Film
Exploring Music in Film
Crowdfunding &
Community-Based
Filmmaking
2:45 pm | Young Filmmakers
Workshop: Claymation
Animation
2:45 pm | Young Filmmakers
Workshop: Claymation
Animation
Lights, Camera, Act!
The TCFF Filmmaker
Roundtable Answers Your
Questions
Writing the Adaptation
Filmmaker Party
8:30 pm - 12:30 am
Closing Night Bash
7:00 pm - 9:45 pm
Larry Charles
Master Class
Michael’s
Super Sweet 60th
9:00 pm - 11:30 pm
Opening Night Party
8:30 pm - 12:30 am
KIDS FEST
THE PATIO AT
CLINCH PARK
LIVE MUSIC ON
THE CLINCH PARK
MUSIC STAGE
See page 69 for the movies
12:00 pm
WEDNESDAY
- SATURDAY
- 7:00 pm
Join us for moderated but informal community-in-the-round discussions after select
movies in our Cinema Salon series. Everyone is welcome to gather and talk about
the movies in the beautiful outdoor setting
of Clinch Park, rain or shine, right outside
the Bijou by the Bay and just a short walk
from the other downtown movie houses.
Discussions follow these films:
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
After these
12 noon films
After these
3:00 pm films
1971
Fed Up
The Case Against 8
The Hunt
The Hand That Feeds
Bronx Obama
Two Raging
Grannies
Rich Hill
Bending the Light
Al Helm:
Martin Luther
King in Palestine
11:00 am
- 2:00 pm
After the $1 movies at 9:30 am,
come play the day away on the
lawn outside!
Enjoy free concerts by some of our area’s top musicians while enjoying refreshments from our host,
The River, on the Patio overlooking Traverse City’s
most popular beach. See the full lineup at tcff.org.
CINEMA SALON
SERIES DISCUSSIONS
AUGUST 3
Supermensch: The
Legend of Shep Gordon
TBA
See page 6
AUGUST 2
SUNDAY
To Be Takei
3:00 pm
PARTIES
SATURDAY
41
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
CRAFT SERVICES
Create Props and Learn the Secrets of Set Design in the Arts and
Crafts Tent!
BACKLOT
Each Day We’ll Offer a Special Activity Good for All Ages in our
Backlot Tent.
ON LOCATION
So Much to Do on the Lawn: Crawl Through the House of Magic
- Yoga - Bubbles - Face Painting - Balloons - Caricatures - Tiny
Tot Play Area - Healthy Food in the Commissary - Giant Chess Misting Tent - Dress Up
STAR TRAILER
Be The Star of Your Own FlipBook
SOUND STAGE
Music, Drama, Storytelling, Magic, Science, and More—We’ve Got
Constant Just Great Entertainment on the Big Stage.
Green Screen Interactive Fun
FREE MOVIES AT THE BUZZ
THE BUZZ
10%: WHAT MAKES A HERO?
Introducing our newest
venue—named after our
beloved friend, the late Buzz
Wilson—dedicated to bringing inspiring, interesting, intelligent movies to the public
completely FREE of charge,
all day, every festival day!
2013 | Germany, Israel, South Africa, USA, Congo | NR | 88 min.
What makes a hero? What compels someone to stand up for what’s
right, to defy social pressures and fight for one’s beliefs? Award-winning director Yoav Shamir (“Defamation,” TCFF ‘09) sets off on a quest
in pursuit of the elusive “hero gene” that takes him around the globe,
from his home in Israel where activists stand up against the occupation
of Palestine; to Congo where primatologists study social structures in
bonobos; and on to New York where a “subway hero” risked his life to
save someone who fell on the tracks. With a fearless and wryly playful
style, Shamir’s film is a fascinating look at morality that will challenge
your preconceived notions of heroism. In Hebrew with subtitles
FRI 3 PM BUZZ
12-12-12
2013 | USA | R | 105 min.
This year’s great music doc gives an
all-access pass to the star-studded 1212-12 benefit concert at Madison Square
Garden, featuring performances by a
who’s who of the last half-century of rock
and pop music, including Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Bruce
Springsteen, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton,
Kanye West, Alicia Keys, and more. Set
against the backdrop of Hurricane Sandy’s devastating effects on New York City
and ongoing recovery efforts, directors
Amir Bar-Lev (“The Tillman Story,” TCFF
‘10) and Charlie Lightning mix energetic
performance footage with casually hilarious candid moments from backstage in
this expertly made concert doc.
WED 6 PM BUZZ | SAT 9 PM BUZZ
FISHTAIL
2014 | USA | NR | 61 min.
The great Harry Dean Stanton narrates
Andrew Renzi’s poignant glimpse into
the life of modern-day cowboys as they
go about their business on Montana’s
Fishtail Basin Ranch during calving
season. The film’s western pacing allows
us to consider Walt Whitman’s take
on the American soul and other great
passages about what makes us tick, while
watching the quiet beauty of life on the
edge of wilderness, and the routines of
the strong, rugged, soft spoken men
who make a living there. The campfires and games with children, stunning
panoramas and details of the business
of documenting medication administration—the pieces of this day-in-the-life
film, combined with a beautiful score and
some of the greatest prose ever written
about the American West, add up to
something unforgettable.
THU 9 PM BUZZ | FRI 6 PM BUZZ
SUN 6 PM BUZZ
43
GOOD DRIVER SMETANA
2013 | Czech Republic | NR | 77 min.
We’re excited to offer the latest effort
from a pair of filmmakers who were part
of our very first festival. The deft satirical wit and impassionaed muckraking
of Vít Klusák and Filip Remunda (“Czech
Dream,” TCFF ‘05 and “Czech Peace,”
TCFF ‘10) returns to the TCFF with the
story of Roman Smetana, a regular-Josef of a bus driver who takes on the
injustice and corruption infecting Czech
politics armed only with a permanent
marker. The small act of civil disobedience of drawing antennae on the heads
of election posters and labeling the
politicians as liars and thieves incites an
unexpected reaction after a colleague
turns him in for defacing private property. Refusing to complete part of his
sentence, Smetana becomes an unlikely
political folk hero who inspires both the
public and the filmmakers themselves to
take up the paint and pen in his absence. In Czech with subtitles
WED 9 AM BUZZ
THE HAND THAT FEEDS
2014 | USA | NR | 88 min.
Across the country, undocumented immigrant workers toil in unsafe conditions
and face abusive managers for sub-minimum wage pay. This rousing documentary
follows a group of workers at a bakery in
New York’s Upper East Side who banded
together and stood up to their employers, risking deportation and their livelihoods to fight for fair treatment. Led
by sandwich maker Mahoma López, the
workers teamed up with activists, Occupy
Wall Street protestors and other groups
sympathetic to their cause, working to
persevere over the course of a year filled
with lockouts, picket lines, betrayals, and
legal battles. An engrossing saga of a courageous fight for equality, “The Hand That
Feeds” is one of the year’s great David
vs. Goliath stories. In English, Spanish with
subtitles
FRI 12 NOON BUZZ | SAT 3 PM BUZZ
STATE
44
LA MAISON DE LA RADIO
2013 | France, Japan | NR | 99 min.
French documentary master Nicolas Philibert’s latest film is an engrossing look at the perpetually bustling Paris headquarters of Radio France (the Gaelic equivalent of NPR), from
the crack of dawn through the last late-night sign off. Covering all types of content from
political reports to pop-culture commentaries, the film reveals the dedicated effort that
goes into every minute of programing and all the faces previously left only to the imagination. Capturing the rich spectrum of cultural offerings broadcasted daily by the producers,
guests, journalists, and show hosts whose work reaches thousands of ears every day, “La
maison de la radio” takes us on a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings
of a cultural institution. In French with subtitles
WED 9 PM BUZZ
IS THE MAN WHO IS TALL
HAPPY?
2013 | USA | NR | 88 min.
Part documentary and part dazzling
journey of cinematic expression, director
Michel Gondry (“Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind”) sits down with esteemed
and controversial linguist, philosopher, and
political commentator Noam Chomsky
for a series of wide-ranging conversations
about science and philosophy that delve
far into the recesses of the human mind.
Gondry presents a visual spectacle by
pairing colorful, illustrative drawings with
Chomsky’s complex ideas centered around
his theory on the emergence of language.
This movie is like a private session with
the most brilliant professor you’ve ever
dreamed of meeting, complete with a
visionary artist to “interpret.” The result is
a feast for both the eyes and the mind that
explores the very nature of how we learn
and think.
FRI 9 AM BUZZ
KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON
2014 | USA | NR | 86 min.
The indomitable spirit of jazz legend Clark
Terry transcends the music biopic genre,
creating an unquestionably special film
that is pure heart and soul. A talented musician who played alongside Duke
Ellington and Count Basie, Terry found his
greatest joy not as one of the most celebrated trumpeters in music history, but
rather as a teacher whose students include
Miles Davis and mega-producer Quincy
Jones. His impact on music education is
incalculable. Now age 93, facing declining
health and loss of vision, Terry’s enduring
passion for mentoring the next generation
of musicians lives on in the close bond he
forms with an exceptional up-and-coming pianist who also happens to be blind.
A toe-tapping crowd pleaser that never
misses a beat, this moving look at a great
man and the teacher-student relationship
is a vibrant celebration of life and music.
Winner of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival
Audience Award.
THU 6 PM BUZZ | SAT 12 NOON BUZZ
THE LAB
2013 | Israel | NR | 60 min.
Over the past decade, with conflict escalating throughout the Middle East, enterprising Israeli arms companies have grown
exponentially on business generated by
their homeland’s ongoing conflict with
Palestine; they now rank among the biggest weapons manufacturers in the world,
selling tools of destruction indiscriminately to countries and regimes around the
globe. Israeli filmmaker Yotam Feldman
interviews key players from the past and
present of the arms industry, and their
testimonies reveal chilling stories of weapons testing on Palestinian communities in
the name of advancing military technology
and profits. This brave documentary turns
a critical lens on the lucrative business of
war and occupation, which has become
an indispensable part of Israel’s growing
economy and political capital. In Hebrew
with subtitles
SUN 3 PM BUZZ
WEB JUNKIE
2013 | Israel, USA | NR | 74 min.
In China, the government has dubbed “internet addiction” as the new number one
public health concern among teenagers.
To combat this perceived plague among
modern youth, they open the world’s
first internet rehab center in a prison-like
building outside of Beijing—one of 400
planned to open across the country.
Directors Shosh Shlam (“Good Garbage,”
TCFF ‘13) and Hilla Medalia’s eye-opening documentary focuses on 16-year-old
Hope and his time in and out of the detox
center, from his immersion in fantasy
games and massive online communities to
the bizarre treatments offered as a cure.
“Web Junkie” offers a fascinating window
into the rapidly-changing cultural landscape of modern China and the generational gap between those in power and the
youth upon whom the country’s hopes are
pinned. In English, Chinese with subtitles
THU 9 AM BUZZ
LOOK BACK
THE EDUKATORS (DIE FETTEN JAHRE SIND
VORBEI)
2006 | Iran | NR | 75 min.
Four men from Tehran are on their way to the mountains
for a weekend ski trip. As they round a curve, they encounter a boulder that sits on the edge of a cliff. Together
they decide that the boulder must be pushed off that cliff.
And, for the next 80 minutes, that’s what we see them
try to do in this funny, poignant allegory by the acclaimed
Iranian director Mani Haghighi. No matter what they try
to do, the rock won’t budge. And neither will they. This is a
great, small film that has many big things to say, and it won
the Founders Award at the second annual Traverse City
Film Festival. In Persian with subtitles
THU 3 PM BUZZ
2008
2005
We’re bringing back one representative movie from each
of our past nine years to give
you another chance to see
some of the movies that make
the Traverse City Film Festival
what it is—a celebration of
Just Great Movies.
2007
2006
2004 | Austria, Germany | R | 130 min.
Winner of the Founders Grand Prize at the inaugural Traverse City Film
Festival, the best German film of 2004 (and a Palme d’Or nominee at the
Cannes Film Festival) follows a group of twenty-somethings who have had
enough of demonstrations and believe it’s time to send a different kind
of political and social message: “What you own, someone once said, one
day will own you.” They form a clandestine gang called The Edukators and
break into the homes of the rich, rearrange their furniture, and leave them
a message about their greedy ways. “Your days of plenty are numbered.” But
things go awry as sexual attraction intrudes, and a kidnapped CEO upsets
their master plan. Tense, evocative, and emotional, it’s one of the smartest
thrillers ever shown at the festival. In German with subtitles
SUN 12 NOON BUZZ
MEN AT WORK (KARGARAN
MASHGHOOLE KARAND)
45
17
PLEASE VOTE FOR ME
WITH WEST BANK STORY
PROFIT MOTIVE AND
THE WHISPERING WIND
PLEASE VOTE FOR ME
2007 | China, Denmark, South Africa | NR | 58 min.
A charming look at contemporary Chinese culture
through the lens of a third-grade classroom, “Please Vote
for Me” follows a small-scale experiment with democracy
in the world’s largest Communist country. Three candidates (all of them eight years old) run for the position of
Class Monitor and learn what it takes to run a successful
campaign. In Mandarin with subtitles
WEST BANK STORY
2005 | USA | NR | 21 min.
Highlighted by terrific musical numbers (including a parody of the finger-snapping gangs in “West Side Story”),
this wacky musical comedy tells the story of forbidden
love between an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian woman.
Their romantic interests are blocked by their families, who
own rival fast food restaurants (Hummus Hut and Kosher
King) and are constantly at odds.
WED 12 NOON BUZZ
2007 | USA | NR | 58 min.
Inspired by historian Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History
of the United States,” filmmaker John Gianvito creates a
portrait of American history by documenting grave sites
and monuments that commemorate our nation’s activist
heroes. A mesmerizing experimental documentary, “Profit
motive and the whispering wind” offers a unique, minimalist travelogue through our nation’s past, taking stops to
pay respects to figures like Cèsar Chàvez, Sojourner Truth,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mother Jones, and Malcolm X, as
well as some lesser-known activists. This perfectly paced,
elegiac film stands as a poetic testament to the fallen radicals who helped shape our nation. Winner of the National
Society of Film Critics’ Best Experimental Film Award, this
film was on many Best 10 Films of the Year lists, including
Cahiers du Cinema and Film Comment.
WED 3 PM BUZZ
STATE
46
TROUBLED WATER (DEUSYNLIGE)
2013
2009 | South Korea | NR | 116 min.
With an impeccable eye for composition
and a cleverly crafted script, director Lee
Hey-jun’s masterwork was the must-see
film at the 2010 festival. Driven to despair
by life’s failures, Kim aims to end it all
by leaping off a bridge into Seoul’s Han
River. But he can’t even get suicide right,
and ends up washed ashore on an island
in the middle of the river, the city skyline
in sight but tantalizingly out of reach.
Meanwhile, in a high rise on the banks of
the river, the zoom lens of a nerdy shut-in
who experiences life solely via the internet happens upon Kim one day while
she is taking pictures of the city. The two
isolated misfits discover the joy of lessthan-instant messaging through notes left
in bottles and messages scrawled in the
sand. This romantic comedy about two of
the most sympathetic oddball characters
ever to grace the silver screen will move
you in ways you haven’t felt at the movies
in years. In English, Korean with subtitles
SUN 9 PM BUZZ
2012
CASTAWAY ON THE MOON
(KIMSSI PYORYUGI)
2011
2010
2009
2008 | Germany, Norway, Sweden | NR | 115 min.
Remembered as one of the most extraordinary opening nights in festival history, “Troubled Water” is so beautifully made, so perfectly conceived and executed, that it fills you
with joy just to behold it. Director Erik Poppe’s amazing film follows a young man who
has just been released from prison after serving eight years for a terrible crime. A gifted
organist, Jan is on a quiet path to redemption, playing in a church and even winning the
heart of the church’s pastor and her young son. But he is soon forced to confront his past
when a woman whose life has been forever scarred by his actions visits the church with
her class. Poppe masterfully structures a dual narrative, telling the story from the perspective of both the woman and the organist. We cannot think of a better film to represent the fifth year of our festival than this intense drama about forgiveness, redemption,
and the permanency of the decisions we make. In Danish, Norwegian with subtitles
FRI 9 PM BUZZ
FACE TO FACE
5 BROKEN CAMERAS
THE BROKEN CIRCLE
BREAKDOWN
2011 | Australia | NR | 89 min.
Adapted from fellow Aussie David Williamson’s play of the same name, this smartly
acted indie drama from director Michael
Rymer (“Angel Baby”), who traveled from
Australia to join us here in Traverse City,
follows a group of 10 people in a “community conference” (an Australian conflict resolution technique) to determine
the fate of Wayne, a violent youth who
smashed his boss’ car in a fit of anger
after being laid off. But the group, which
includes some of Wayne’s coworkers,
can’t agree on how to handle his case as
each becomes increasingly complicit in the
crime. Relying on strong performances
from each member of its ensemble, this
finely wrought, award-winning drama will
draw you in like “12 Angry Men,” and will
astonish most every American.
SUN 9 AM BUZZ
2011 | France, Israel, Occupied Palestinian
Territory | NR | 90 min.
We’ll never forget having Emad Burnat
and his family here in Traverse City for
sold-out screenings that helped launch
the film’s successful run to an Oscar
nomination bid. When Palestinian farmer
Emad Burnat purchased a video camera
to record the birth of his son Jibreel, the
joyous family moment coincided with the
invasion of Israeli bulldozers set to make
way for Jewish colonists. Burnat joined
in his town’s peaceful resistance against
the advancing settlers, documenting his
involvement with the five titular cameras
that became casualties of the ongoing
border conflict, smashed or shot over the
course of five years of harrowing demonstrations. The resulting footage, which
Burnat reconstructed collaboratively with
Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi, presents a
microcosm of an international tragedy reframed through the lenses of one family’s
experience. A brilliant, wrenching, devastating film, not to be missed. In Arabic,
Hebrew with subtitles
THU 12 NOON BUZZ
2012 | Belgium, Netherlands | NR | 100 min.
Each year we see a couple of films that
touch us in a way that will never let us
go, and in 2012 it was this Belgian tale,
the Berlin Film Festival Audience Award
winner, which won our hearts and minds—
and haunts us still. It’s the story of the
glorious, intense love between Elise and
Didier, two wild and passionate people who
discover that they fit perfectly together,
until circumstances beyond their control
change everything. Framed around a remarkable bluegrass soundtrack and several
performances by Didier’s band, “The Broken Circle Breakdown” will make you laugh
and cry, and will wash you in the power of
grand love. In Dutch with subtitles
SAT 6 PM BUZZ
EXPERIMENTAL
49
FOCUS ON INFINITY
2014 | Austria, USA | NR | 80 min.
Take a cinematic journey in pursuit of the infinite where you’ll encounter men and machines dedicated to exploring the origin of the cosmos and our existence. Enormous
telescopes in the desert, supercomputers, gigantic particle accelerators—no effort is too
great to satisfy the human thirst for knowledge, to finally understand the secret of infinity.
We visit the abandoned “nitrate town” of Pisagua, the ancient Atacama Giant geoglyph,
the massive ALMA radio telescope project, Area 51 military base in Nevada, the Cosmic
Ray Division lab in Armenia, and large-scale astronomy projects in the deserts of New
Mexico and Arizona. We listen to interviews with leading astronomers, physicists, even the
emeritus director from the Vatican Observatory, who present a range of theories about
the mysterious cosmos. Meanwhile, Turkish physicist and writer Asli Erdogan contemplates
the irony inherent in our obsessive search to know why we are here. Where do we come
from, what are we, and where do we go? In English, Spanish with subtitles
WED 6 PM DUT | SAT 12 NOON DUT
THE FORGOTTEN SPACE
2010 | Austria, Netherlands | PG | 113 min.
Ninety percent of the world’s goods are exchanged through the global shipping trade,
out of sight and out of mind on the forgotten spaces of the sea. Filmmakers Allan Sekula and Noël Burch posit that the sea is capitalism’s global trading floor writ large in this
wide-ranging essay documentary, which follows a very American invention from the
1950s, the cargo container, aboard ships, barges, trains, and trucks as it covers the planet.
We meet the people who run the global transport system—workers, engineers, planners,
politicians; the villagers in Holland and Belgium who are forced to give up their land; truck
drivers in Los Angeles being paid less than minimum wage; seafarers aboard mega-ships
shuttling between Asia and Europe; and factory workers in China, whose low wages are
key to the larger puzzle. In English, Spanish, Indonesian, Korean, Dutch, Chinese with subtitles
THU 6 PM DUT | SUN 12 NOON DUT
KARPOTROTTER
2014 | Slovenia | NR | 50 min.
In 1970, at the peak of the Yugoslavian “Black Wave,” a young filmmaker named Karpo
Godina took a trip through the flat hinterland of Vojvodina with his camera. Much of the
resulting road film has been lost to time, but fortunately for experimental film lovers everywhere, filmmaker Matjaz Ivanisin saved the few original fragments left of the film, and
40 years later took his own camera on a modern-day journey retracing Godina’s original
path. He talked to people Godina met during his travels, recording their memories, their
progeny, and their contemporary way of life. The resulting film is richly multi-layered, with
period folk music augmenting its meditation on the local village culture and inhabitants of
five villages in what was once rural Yugoslavia. In Slovenian with subtitles
THU 9 PM DUT | FRI 6 PM DUT | SUN 3 PM DUT
EXPERIMENTAL
STATE
50
PURGATORIO: A JOURNEY INTO THE HEART OF THE
BORDER (PURGATORIO: VIAJE AL CORAZÓN DE
LA FRONTERA)
2013 | Mexico, USA | NR | 80 min.
Winner of the Michael Moore Award for Best Documentary at this year’s Ann Arbor Film
Festival, “Purgatorio” captures the brutal beauty of the border and the people caught in
its spell, presenting a stunning mosaic of compelling characters and broken landscapes.
Rodrigo Reyes’ eye-opening documentary offers a thoughtful portrait of the US-Mexico
border with coroners, dog-catchers, police, border-crossers, and others on both sides,
tying disparate stories together through stunning imagery that depicts the border as
an almost mythic place. Concerned mainly with the human implications of defining and
enforcing a line between two nations, “Purgatorio” is a searing, horrifying, at times starkly
haunting, and dream-like documentary that reimagines the border as a surreal place
where spellbound residents are stuck between perception and reality. In English, Spanish
with subtitles
WED 3 PM DUT | THU 12 NOON DUT | FRI 9 PM DUT | SAT 9 PM DUT
YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW IN DETROIT
2014 | USA | NR | 72 min.
Take a stroll through the streets of Detroit as they once were when Rick Prelinger
presents his program of educational, industrial, and home movies made in Detroit from
1925-1976. The San Francisco-based archivist, filmmaker, and educator will moderate
interactive screenings of the program during which audiences are encouraged to yell out
when they recognize specific locations or when they have hints that can help date films.
Audience members will also be asked to let him make copies of home movies or other
films they may have for his Detroit-based films collection. The Traverse City Film Festival
screenings feature some works from Prelinger’s past compilations (including a priceless
reel of a man’s walk past Grand River businesses in the early 1950s) and many new finds,
including several home movies from Motown neighborhoods, and a short film about the
city’s renaissance made by the City of Detroit circa 1968.
FRI 12 NOON DUT | SAT 6 PM DUT | SUN 9 PM DUT
EXPERIMENTAL
51
SHORT EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
Program length: 110 min.
The experimental films that moved us most this year have been packed into this rich, deep collection.
“Single Stream” takes us into the heart of a Boston recycling facility where hundreds of tons of refuse
are sorted daily; “BIRDS” explores the life of birds in urban habitats; a two and a half year old boy
revels in all things tiny and huge on and around a farm in “Strawberries in the Summertime;” and in
“Mystery,” they say that if you put your ear to the back of his neck, you can hear the Virgin speak.
THU 3 PM DUT | FRI 3 PM DUT | SUN 6 PM DUT
BIRDS
Germany | 2014 | 15 min.
HACKED CIRCUIT
USA | 2014 | 15 min.
STRAWBERRIES IN THE
SUMMERTIME
Canada, USA | 2013 | 16 min.
BLANKET STATEMENT #2: ALL OR NOTHING
UK, USA | 2013 | 4 min.
MYSTERY (MISTERIO)
Spain | 2013 | 12 min.
THING
Belgium | 2013 | 18 min.
FE26
USA | 2014 | 7 min.
SINGLE STREAM
USA | 2014 | 23 min.
SHORTS FROM THE ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL
We tip our hats to a great Michigan film festival to the south—the venerable Ann Arbor Film Festival,
now in its 52nd year. Some of the finest experimental films in the world screen at AAFF, and we’ve
chosen our favorites to play in this not-to-be-missed program. Take a walk through Berlin in “Der
Spaziergang;” trawl for sand deep in the river bed in the award winning “Lagos Sand Merchants;” see
Bill O’Reilly high art in “The Reality Factory;” and experience a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience
with “Eleven Forty Seven.”
WED 9 PM DUT | SAT 3 PM DUT
DER SPAZIERGANG
USA | 2013 | 3 min.
METAMORFOZA
Netherlands | 2013 | 7 min.
A STUDY IN NATURAL MAGIC
USA | 2013 | 3 min.
ELEVEN FORTY SEVEN
USA | 2012 | 12 min.
THE REALITY FACTORY
USA | 2014 | 1 min.
WILL O’ THE WISP
USA | 2013 | 24 min.
LAGOS SAND MERCHANTS
Nigeria, UK | 2013 | 10 min.
RIVERGARDEN
USA | 2013 | 10 min.
MIDNIGHT
THE BABADOOK
If you’ve ever worried about what lurked behind the door
or under your bed, this gruesome treat is sure to ignite
your deepest primordial fears. When a gothic nightmare
of a children’s book called “Mr. Babadook” mysteriously
appears in the home of Amelia, a stressed out single mom,
and her deeply troubled, tantrum-prone son Samuel, the
book seems to take on a life of its own, and Samuel becomes increasingly convinced that the storybook creature
is out to kill them both. Even after trying to rid themselves
of this terrorizing tome, Samuel’s aggressive outbursts
take a violent turn toward his mother. Amelia must decide if
her son is truly unhinged or if there really is a boogeyman
creeping in her halls. One of the most critically-acclaimed
and stylish spookers of the year, this darkly evocative
fairytale laced with pure psycological terror is a simmering,
elaborately designed, and deeply unsettling look at familial
tension.
WED 12 MIDNIGHT ST
THE CANAL
2014 | Ireland | NR | 90 min.
It’s never good when you move into a new house by a canal,
only to find out it was the site of a grizzly turn-of-the-century murder. And it gets worse still when you learn about
your house’s dark history not from the real estate agent,
but instead by stumbling upon the important information
while going through grainy National Film Archive footage
as part of your job as a film archivist. Add to this life complication the suspicion that your wife is having an affair, and
maybe it’s not surprising when you start to lose it and tear
into your house’s walls in search of the source of noises
you can’t explain. This Irish ghost story directed by Ivan Kavanaugh and starring Rupert Evans (“Hellboy”) is haunting,
disturbing, and genuinely scary.
SAT 12 MIDNIGHT OTP
55
CREEP
2014 | USA | NR | 80 min.
If you’ve ever watched a movie and thought hey, this sure
could use more Mark Duplass (“The One I Love,” “The
League”), then we sure have got a movie for you! In this
horror comedy unlike anything you’ve ever seen—and
that we dare not tell you too much about—Duplass plays
a goofy eccentric who hires a naive videographer via a
cryptic Craigslist ad to record him in a remote mountain
town under the heartfelt auspice of creating a video to
pass along to his unborn son before he dies. Presented as a hypnotic collection of found footage from these
filming “sessions,” what starts out as a slightly weird and
suspicious exercise becomes so downright creepy that the
would-be videographer is forced to flee. Remarkably odd
and strangely extraordinary, the debut film from director
Patrick Bice masterfully toes the line between the insanely
comedic and the truly terrifying.
THU 12 MIDNIGHT ST
DER SAMURAI
On the outskirts of a remote village in eastern Germany, where the fear of wolves in
the surrounding forests prevents locals from straying too far from home, a maniacal
sword-wielding figure in a woman’s dress lurks among the birch trees waiting to descend
upon the unsuspecting villagers. Desperate to protect his hometown from the bloody onslaught, strait-laced policeman Jakob embarks on a reckless pursuit of the ominous stranger. But as their paths entwine, Jakob becomes increasingly powerless to resist the seductive force of the Samurai’s feral allure, and is forced to confront his own carnal impulses. At
once shocking, bloodthirsty, and downright bizarre, director Till Kleinert’s rural thriller is
smart arthouse horror at its very best, featuring a euphoric climax you won’t soon forget.
FRI 12 MIDNIGHT OTP
STATE
56
MIDNIGHT
DOUG BENSON’S MOVIE INTERRUPTION: ROAD HOUSE
1989 | USA | R | 114 min.
When Doug Benson told us he wanted to return to the Traverse City Film Festival this
year and do one of his famous Movie Interruptions, there was really only one film that
came to mind—a film of such raw masculinity, such compelling Zen wisdom and deep
human insight, such beautiful mustaches and mullets, and such blistering pain that it
remains the gold standard of 80s prestige filmmaking (read: it’s gloriously campy). Benson
and buddies will seat themselves in the front row of the State with microphones in hand
to hilariously riff on the timeless story of Dalton (Patrick Swayze), a barroom bouncer (or
“cooler” as they say in the biz) on a mission to bring peace to a sleazy saloon.
FRI 12 MIDNIGHT ST
ZOMBEAVERS
2014 | USA | NR | 77 min.
This is it: the movie TCFF midnight fans have been waiting for—a horror comedy so
outrageously fun, its trailer is already an internet sensation. Sure, the story may seem
familiar: a group of beautiful college students head to a secluded cabin for the weekend
only to have their hedonistic plans sidetracked by unexpected terrors. But this time the
biting horror is brought to you by a rampaging, ravenous, rabid pack of toxic-waste-mutated Zombeavers (that’s Zombie Beavers for you laymen). So much more than another
“Sharknado”-style gimmicky premise, the lovingly handcrafted effects make “Zombeavers” a winning tribute to D-movie creature features. With a first-rate cast of complete
unknowns including Jake Weary—no actor has chewed through more scenery since Al
Pacino in “And Justice for All”—this “Citizen Kane” of Zombie Beaver movies may just be
the best DAM movie we’ve seen all year.
SAT 12 MIDNIGHT ST
SHORTS FOR MIDNIGHT
Fresh from the warped minds of global short film art masters, these hilarious and seriously strange
shorts are worth staying up late for. Eric Kissack (“Missed Connections,” TCFF ‘12) returns to the
festival with “The Gunfighter,” in which a bloodthirsty narrator voiced by Nick Offerman (“Parks and
Recreation”) tries to set off a shootout in the Wild West; the blackly comic “Happy B-Day” shows how
a well-intentioned birthday surprise can go horribly, horribly wrong; “Cruising Electric (1980)” imagines
a retro ad for a kids’ toy tie-in to the classic Al Pacino serial-killer movie “Cruising;” and two teddy bears
go hunting endangered (and delicious!) creatures in the spectacularly twisted “Unicorn Blood.”
THU 12 MIDNIGHT OTP
CRUISING ELECTRIC (1980)
USA | 2014 | 2 min.
KEKASIH
Malaysia, USA | 2013 | 9 min.
SYNDROMEDA
Sweden | 2013 | 25 min.
THE GUNFIGHTER
USA | 2014 | 9 min.
PEEPERS
USA | 2014 | 6 min.
UNICORN BLOOD
Spain | 2013 | 9 min.
HAPPY B-DAY
Germany | 2013 | 8 min.
SEQUENCE
USA | 2013 | 20 min.
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
DOUG LOVES MOVIES PODCAST
Join Doug Benson (“Last Comic Standing,” “Super High Me”), our own Michael Moore,
and other special guests as they record an interactive podcast featuring games and
lively discussion all about movies, live from the Old Town Playhouse. We welcome
back Benson, a sellout at last year’s film festival as well as at the 2013 Traverse City
Winter Comedy Arts Festival, for an evening of outright hilarity. Be sure to make time
for this side-splitting conversation about one of the greatest things in life: the movies.
Tickets for this special live event are $20.
WED 9 PM OTP
Festival on a Budget
59
AN EVENING WITH LARRY CHARLES
A true titan of Hollywood, “Borat” director, “Seinfeld” writer, Emmy-winner, TCFF
board member, and all-around comedic genius Larry Charles returns to TC for an
unforgettably hilarious evening of surprises so secret we can’t give anything away.
Let’s just say Larry (who is also the man responsible for the legendary lost Kanye
West HBO pilot) has been working on quite a few exciting projects back in Los Angeles, and he’ll be bringing us exclusive sneak peeks at the next big things in comedy that you won’t see anywhere else. He’s also made a new short film that you’ll be
the first to see. You won’t want to miss a night spent with one of the funniest men
on the planet, as he regales us with the darkly absurd and hysterical stories that
have made him a TCFF treasure.
FRI 9 PM OTP
The TCFF is for everyone, no wallet required! Using the tips below, you can enjoy worldclass entertainment and excitement from morning to night for FREE, or at low cost, every
day of the film festival.
FREE Music on The Patio in Clinch Park
Relax by one of Traverse City’s most popular beaches while enjoying the musical talents of
some of our area’s leading artists on the Patio.
FREE Movies at The Buzz
This year marks the debut of The Buzz, our new indoor venue dedicated to offering FREE
screenings for the public all day, every festival day. Almost too good to be true, right? Free
tickets to these screenings will be available for pick up at the Main Box Office at 201 E.
Front Street, or by calling 231-242-FILM, when public ticketing begins on Saturday, July
19. And even if you’re unable to reserve a seat in advance, standby lines will form before
each show.
FREE Kids Fest and $1 Films
Bring your young ones and future cinephiles to the $1 kids film screenings
Wednesday-Saturday at 9:30 am at Lars Hockstad Auditorium for a delightful
cultural and educational adventure—and FREE popcorn! Then walk outside onto
the beautiful lawn for our FREE lawn party that is brimming with film-related fun
and activities. Your kids won’t want to leave!
FREE Movies in Open Space
Bring a lawn chair or blanket for an evening out with friends and family as you watch some
of Hollywood’s most beloved classics on a gigantic screen right on the Bay at dusk. This
year is extra special: we’re showing the best Open Space movies from the past nine years!
Arrive early at 7 pm for FREE music and entertainment.
Film School Classes
For the low, low price of just $5, you can learn about filmmaking from world-renowned
experts, college professors, and visiting filmmakers—a truly enriching and invaluable
experience for any budding filmmaker or film fan.
FREE Filmmaker Panels
Running Wednesday to Sunday each morning at 9:30 am at the City Opera House, and on
select evenings at 6 pm in Clinch Park, our FREE filmmaker panels bring together movie
luminaries for lively, no-holds-barred conversations you won’t see anywhere else.
FREE Movies for Volunteers
If you can volunteer for three shifts or more, you will receive a FREE volunteer tshirt and
get to attend the FREE pre-fest volunteer screening and post-fest volunteer party, all while
making an important contribution to the festival. Plus, at the volunteer screening, we hand
out FREE festival tickets to volunteers! Sign up on our website today at tcff.org, or call the
festival office at 231-392-1134.
FREE Discussions at the Cinema Salon
Following select 12 pm and 3 pm screenings, you can join fellow movie lovers at the
Cinema Salon on the Patio at Clinch Park for informal, insightful discussions in the
round about movies that are sure to generate conversation.
FREE Park and Ride Shuttle
We make it easy to get around the festival for FREE with our BATA shuttle buses. Just park
on the west side of town in the Thirlby Field Parking Lot, or on the east side in the Cherry
Lot at Northwestern Michigan College, and leave the driving (and the parking!) to us.
STATE
60
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
LADONNA HARRIS: INDIAN 101
2014 | USA | NR | 63 min.
Comanche director Julianna Brannum’s moving portrait of fellow Comanche activist LaDonna Harris follows the remarkable leader’s storied career in Native political and social
activism. Raised by her maternal grandparents on an Oklahoma farm during the Great
Depression, Harris began a life in public service as the wife of US Senator Fred Harris. She
helped return Taos Blue Lake to the people of Taos Pueblo, and helped the Menominee
Tribe regain federal recognition. At the request of President Lyndon Johnson, she created
a course called “Indian 101,” used for 35 years to teach the executive and legislative
branches of the US government about American Indian Tribes. She is President of Americans for Indian Opportunity, and is actively involved in passing her knowledge to a new
generation of emerging Indigenous leaders, and in building a global Indigenous coalition.
SUN 9 AM ST
MIKE’S SURPRISE
?? | ?? | ?? | ?? min.
Each year, one of our most popular screenings is the one
where no one has any idea what they’re going to see.
Even the projectionist doesn’t know. Festival founder
and president Michael Moore presents “Mike’s Surprise”
on the final day of each year’s fest. Mike may show up
with a sneak preview of a big upcoming Hollywood movie
or a buried treasure that had disappeared for years, or
he may just show you some of his home movies. One
time he just talked for two hours. That was interesting.
Another year he got the whole audience up and took
them for a walk around Central Neighborhood. This year,
all he’ll say is that he promises there will be “no Pilates,
nothing with cats, and Johnny Depp will not be joining
us.” Our guess? The movie will be in color.
SUN 12 NOON LARS
BAG OF RICE (KISEYE BERENDJ)
1998 | Iran | NR | 80 min.
Featured in TCFF Board Member Mark Cousins’ acclaimed documentary “A Story of Children in Film” (TCFF
‘13) and lovingly restored with the help of Cousins and
his friend Tilda Swinton, this lost treasure of cinema
is coming to the Bijou. “Bag of Rice” is an unforgettable urban odyssey around Tehran as seen through
the eyes of a child. Determined to escape boredom at
home, four-year-old Jairan accompanies her half-blind
and stubborn elderly neighbor on an errand. Both are
ill-equipped to face the unexpected challenges of the
journey and must rely on the kindness of strangers to
navigate the bustling city. What starts as an odd-couple adventure turns into a profoundly moving parable
as these unlikely companions make their way through
the world. It’s one of the great humanist, heartwarming
delights in cinema. In Persian with subtitles
SAT 12 NOON BIJ
STORIED STREETS
2014 | USA | NR | 110 min.
This winter, two homeless people froze to death in our
area. No place in America is without homelessness these
days. But really, do we have to watch another film about
the homeless? One of the big political debates in front
of the TC City Commission this summer is whether or
not to turn the City’s building at 517 Wellington Street,
which the film festival has used as a warehouse for many
years, into a 100 bed homeless shelter. But what’s being
done to fix the reason we have homelessness in the first
place? Come watch this searing documentary produced
by Thomas Morgan (“Waiting for Mamu,” TCFF ‘13) that
explores homelessness across America by telling the
stories of those who live it every day.
SAT 9 AM BUZZ
STATE CENTENNIAL
61
IN 2016
ON APPROVAL
1944 | UK | NR | 80 min.
An incredible rediscovery of classic cinema, “On Approval” is
one of those deliciously witty comedies of manners that the
Brits seem to do so much better than anyone else. A rather scandalous look at love in the gay 1890s, the film follows
two wealthy women in the market for potential mates who
enter into platonic one-month matrimonial auditions with
two blue-blooded (but recently impoverished) bachelors. This
seemingly sensible compatibility test becomes anything but in
this lively romantic romp, chock full of effervescent sight gags,
stylistic flourishes, and deftly satiric banter. It is a true cinematic
tragedy that director and star Clive Brook only bestowed his
gossamer-light comedic touch on this one film.
SUN 12 NOON MIL
TILLIE’S PUNCTURED ROMANCE
1914 | USA | NR | 82 min.
1914 marked the major league debut of Babe Ruth and the
completion of the Panama Canal. But for film lovers, 1914 may
be best remembered as the year we were given the gift of
feature length comedy. Entering territory previously reserved
only for epics, Charlie Chaplin gave comedy its first six-reel
treatment, and we’ve been laughing it up ever since. In one of
his last roles before disappearing into his iconic Little Tramp
persona, Chaplin plays a morally bankrupt con artist who
dupes a country girl into marriage in order to steal her money.
With the legendary Mack Sennett behind the lens, you can
count on oodles of classic Keystone gags and pratfalls in this
hilarious slapstick sendup of gold diggers. Also starring Marie
Dressler and Mabel Normand.
WED 12 NOON DUT
our festival’s anchor venue and
historic movie palace, the State
Theatre, will celebrate 100 years
of showing movies in downtown
Traverse City! We couldn’t let
this incredible milestone pass
without a little pomp and circumstance, so we’re continuing
our five-year pre-party with
a collection of great films, lost
treasures, and important rediscoveries from the early days
of cinema.
LONESOME WITH THE
ALLOY ORCHESTRA
1928 | USA | NR | 69 min.
Roger Ebert called the Alloy Orchestra “the best in
the world at accompanying silent films,” and that’s just
one of the many reasons we love welcoming them
back to Traverse City each year. As a special treat
for our 10th Anniversary, the incomparable musical
stylings of the Alloy Orchestra will accompany one of
the great buried treasures of the cinema. Audacious
auteur Paul Fejos uses every tool at his disposal in this
rapturously rendered silent symphony about two people searching for a connection in the big city over the
course of one magically marvelous day. With groundbreaking camerawork, innovative effects (including
three sound sequences!), and hand-stenciled color
that paints Coney Island in a breathtakingly luminous
light, “Lonesome” is without a doubt unlike anything
you’ve ever seen and unlike anything you may ever
have the chance to experience again. Presented on a
beautifully restored print from the George Eastman
House.
SUN 3 PM ST
STATE
66
SHORTS
SHORT NARRATIVES 1
The lighter of this year’s two narrative shorts programs, these six touching and humorous shorts are
among the best we’ve ever shown at the festival. Young Emma’s decision to leave grandmother in
charge of her favorite iPad game has dire consequences for her digital stable in “Pony Place;” in “Person
to Person,” a Brooklyn man has to deal with a stranger who refuses to leave his apartment the morning
after hosting a party; and a twenty-something punk meets his match in a confident, bratty twelve-yearold girl in “Kakara.”
WED 3 PM COH
THE CUT
Canada | 2014 | 15 min.
AN EXTRAORDINARY
PERSON
Canada | 2013 | 29 min.
KAKARA
Finland | 2013 | 13 min.
PERSON TO PERSON
USA | 2014 | 18 min.
PONY PLACE
Netherlands | 2013 | 10 min.
SCRATCH
Ireland | 2013 | 15 min.
SHORT NARRATIVES 2
Truly global in scope, this year’s dramatic shorts program features films from Israel, Mozambique,
Ireland, Iran, and the UK. Offering sharp social commentary, “More Than Two Hours” follows a young
unmarried couple in Iran as they wander the city late at night in search of a hospital; three homeless
children will do whatever it takes to enjoy a day at the Funfair in “A Tropical Sunday;” and “The Kármán
Line” finds Sarah (acclaimed British actress Olivia Colman) mysteriously floating away from the Earth’s
surface as her family watches helplessly.
FRI 3 PM OTP
CODA
Ireland | 2014 | 9 min.
DESERTED
Israel | 2013 | 25 min.
MORE THAN TWO HOURS
Iran | 2013 | 15 min.
A TROPICAL SUNDAY
Mozambique | 2014 | 15 min.
SHORTS BY U OF M STUDENTS
THE KÁRMÁN LINE
UK | 2014 | 24 min.
Program length: 59 min. plus discussion
The University of Michigan Department of Screen Arts & Cultures returns to the TCFF with two shorts
showcasing some of our state’s top young filmmaking talent. Dustin Alpern’s unsettling film “Bad Girls”
examines the carelessness of youth, where human lives are games, and destroying someone else’s life
means winning. And from director (and Traverse City native) Layne Austin Simescu, “Thru Traffic” tells
the story of a get-rich-quick dreamer loaded with gambling debt who must deliver a duffle bag full of
cocaine from Detroit to Chicago with his estranged younger brother in tow.
THU 12 NOON OTP
THRU TRAFFIC
USA | 2014 | 30 min.
BAD GIRLS
USA | 2014 | 29 min
SHORTS
67
SHORTS BY MSU STUDENTS
For the first time at the TCFF, we are joined by six excellent short films from student
filmmakers at Michigan State University. This year’s program includes “D is for Dream,”
a film examining the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Detroit; “Out of the Box,” a
documentary following the MSU Street Team as they visit underserved nonprofits; “Inconclusive,” about electroshock therapy in the 60s; “A Public Affair,” a film where reality
and fantasy meet; “Every Two Minutes,” a sobering look at sexual assault in America; and
“Heart Effects,” a lushly painted animated short.
WED 12 NOON OTP
D IS FOR DREAM
USA | 2014 | 7 min.
HEART EFFECTS
USA | 2014 | 1 min.
OUT OF THE BOX
USA | 2014 | 33 min.
EVERY TWO MINUTES
USA | 2014 | 37 min.
INCONCLUSIVE
USA | 2014 | 1 min.
A PUBLIC AFFAIR
USA | 2014 | 24 min.
SHORT DOCUMENTARIES
Featuring the top award-winning documentaries from Sundance and Tribeca, these eight
powerful shorts include “One Year Lease,” a cautionary tale about renting an apartment
in New York City, told through the voicemail messages of the tenants’ cat-loving landlady;
“A Hole in the Sky,” a stirring portrait of life for a young woman in rural Somalia; “The Silly
Bastard Next to the Bed,” a stranger-than-fiction account of one of the funniest phone calls
ever made from the Oval Office during the Kennedy administration (it would make an excellent script for an episode of “Veep”); and, tailor-made for the summer of the World Cup final,
“Maradona ‘86,” which tells the fascinating story of a controversial soccer icon.
SAT 12 NOON OTP
A HOLE IN THE SKY
France, Spain, USA
2013 | 10 min.
I THINK THIS IS THE
CLOSEST TO HOW THE FOOTAGE LOOKED
Israel | 2012 | 10 min.
THE LION’S
MOUTH OPENS
USA | 2014 | 16 min.
MARADONA ‘86
UK, USA | 2014 | 22 min.
ONE YEAR LEASE
USA | 2014 | 11 min.
THE SILLY BASTARD NEXT TO THE BED
USA | 2014 | 8 min.
TIM AND SUSAN
HAVE MATCHING
HANDGUNS
USA | 2014 | 2 min.
.
KIDS FEST
69
THUNDER AND THE HOUSE OF MAGIC
2013 | France | NR | 82 min.
Intrigue, imagination, laughter, and eye-poppingly vivid animation make this
charming tale of an adorable abandoned cat a magical journey of discovery. In
a strangely fascinating house filled with playful automatons and gizmos, where
surprises lurk around every corner, Thunder the cat easily wins the affection of
“The Illustrious Lorenzo,” but has a much more difficult time winning over the
other household animals. But after an accident sends Lorenzo to the hospital, the
magician’s troupe of animal buddies and enchanted creations must band together
to save the mansion from a scheming nephew. This stupendous, special world lovingly crafted by directors Ben Stassen and Jérémie Degruson overflows with such
heartfelt emotion, we decided it’s the perfect kickoff to a fabulous day at Kids Fest!
SAT 9:30 AM LARS
4
5
6
7
8
After the $1 Kids movies at Lars
Hockstad, join us on the beautiful
lawn outside for FREE games, arts
and crafts, performances, sports,
food, giveaways, and much more! Kids
Fest takes over the lawn Wednesday,
July 30 - Saturday, August 2 from
11 am to 2 pm.
9
THUNDER AND THE
HOUSE OF MAGIC
Recommended Ages
PIM & POM: THE BIG
ADVENTURE (PIM & POM:
HET GROTE AVONTUUR)
2014 | Netherlands | NR | 70 min.
Coming to us from the Netherlands is the
delightful story of two mischief-making
cats—the adventurous and impetuous
Pim and the more cautious and calm
Pom—embarking on a very big adventure indeed. A picnic goes awry when a
devilish pair of scheming twins separate
them from their beloved caretaker “Lady.”
Escaping from the girls’ clutches, Pim and
Pom have to travel far and wide in order
to return home. Encountering a group of
streetwise alley cats, a diverting circus, and
a deliciously tempting ice cream cart and
fish market along the way, their friendship
is tested while a delectable bowl of milk
awaits their successful return.
THU 9:30 AM LARS
2
3
4
5
6
7
PIM & POM: THE BIG ADVENTURE
Recommended Ages
SHORTS FOR KIDS 1
SHORTS FOR KIDS 2
Program Length: 67 min.
This delightful collection of shorts for our youngest filmgoers features trampoline-hopping foxes, a bear whose hat
goes missing, and a deer who shares a fantastic scientific
discovery with his rabbit friend.
WED 9:30 AM LARS
Program Length: 71 min.
We saw so many great kids shorts this year that we couldn’t fit
them all in one program! Program 2 includes the story of three
girls who start a skateboarding posse, and a man who takes a
trip around the world in his dream.
FRI 9:30 AM LARS
BLUE
USA | 2012 | 8 min.
RABBIT AND DEER
Hungary | 2013 | 16 min.
AHCO ON THE ROAD
South Korea, USA | 2013 | 9 min.
MY MOM IS AN AIRPLANE!
RUSSIA/USA | 2013 | 7 min.
EXERCISE
UK | 2013 | 2 min.
SLEIGHT OF HAND
Australia | 2012 | 10 min.
CYCLOID
Japan | 2013 | 4 min.
THE NUMBERLYS
USA | 2013 | 12 min.
I WANT MY HAT BACK
USA | 2013 | 9 min.
SNOWFLAKE
Russia | 2012 | 6 min.
GNARLY IN PINK
USA | 2013 | 9 min.
KALLE KRAN
Sweden | 2014 | 6 min.
WONDER
France, Japan | 2014 | 8 min.
THE KING OF THE BIRDS
France | 2013 | 5 min.
PAPA CLOUDY’S
RESTAURANT
USA | 2014 | 6 min.
MAPLE SYRUP
Canada | 2013 | 2 min.
2
SUPER SECRET
USA | 2013 | 3 min.
MIA
Belgium, Netherlands
2013 | 10 min.
3
4
5
6
SHORTS FOR KIDS 1
Recommended Ages
7
3
SWAN CAKE
USA | 2013 | 6 min.
4
5
6
7
8
SHORTS FOR KIDS 2
Recommended Ages
STATE
70
OFF SCREEN
FILM SCHOOL
Returning to Scholars Hall our Film
School offers twice-daily sessions featuring visiting filmmakers and professionals sharing their insights and experiences with an audience of students
and film lovers of all ages. Tickets are
only $5 per class. Classes are subject to
change.
Wednesday
12 NOON – WHAT’S UP, DOC?
One of the visiting TCFF documentary filmmakers will host
a film school session taking you on their film festival journey
from the film’s conception and filming to post-production and,
finally, to arriving right here in Traverse City!
3 PM – TBA
Thursday
12 NOON – GREEN SCREEN WORKSHOP
Mark Colson and Alison Dobbins, Michigan State University
With advanced compositing capabilities at your fingertips, the
depths of the ocean or the heights of Mars can be the backdrop
for your next movie. This workshop will examine how green
screen technology can be used to unleash the imagination.
Cinematography and acting techniques will be explored so you
can discover the best way to create something out of nothing.
3 PM – LARRY CHARLES MASTER CLASS
Emmy Award-winning writer and director Larry Charles
TCFF Board Member Larry Charles will share his new short film,
“I Can’t Go On,” a years-in-the-making personal passion project
about comedian and television writer Adam Leslie. The screening
will be followed by a characteristically funny lesson in the serious
business of filmmaking from the guy who brought you the
blockbuster hits “Borat” and “The Dictator.”
Friday
12 NOON – PERSISTENT STRUGGLE:
POLITICS & ART OF BLACK FILM
Jeffrey C. Wray, Associate Professor of Film Studies, Michigan
State University
Slave,” black filmmaking and black representation in American
cinema has required persistent struggle. This workshop will
encourage discussion of the history of African-American
cinema, of various black film movements, and of the
presence—or lack thereof—of African Americans in cinema
using lots of film clips from classic cinema, little known gems,
and contemporary works.
3 PM – LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACT!
U of M Screen Arts & Cultures Lecturer Robert Rayher and
Casting Director Pamela Guest
One of the most popular film school classes is back with a new
spin. What makes movies unique on the level of performance
is the symbiotic relationship between the camera and the
actor. At their best, they dance together, intimately. It’s no
different than a stage actor “finding their light,” or opening to
the audience, but it’s a more subtle dance with the camera.
This workshop will investigate the actor/camera relationship
and how it’s affected by the editing process.
Saturday
12 NOON – EXPLORING MUSIC IN FILM
Grammy-nominated composer David Joseph Wesley
Join the composer behind “Family Guy” for a unique
interactive discussion covering music in film. From its roots
in the silent film era to modern film soundtracks, we’ll take a
journey through time and also learn what goes into creating
the musical score for a film. You may even get to try out your
skills as a composer!
3 PM – THE TCFF FILMMAKER ROUNDTABLE
ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS
An intimate session for you to ask your questions of our
visiting filmmakers.
From the early 20th century “race films” of black filmmaking
pioneer Oscar Micheaux to the Oscar-winning “12 Years a
Sunday
12 NOON – CROWDFUNDING &
COMMUNITY-BASED FILMMAKING
U of M Screen Arts & Cultures Lecturer V. Prasad, Filmmaker
Sultan Sharrief, and Producer Barbara Twist
While the film industry resides primarily in Los Angeles, cheaper
high-quality cameras, crowdfunding websites, and online
distribution have made regional filmmaking a reality. Using the
Michigan-based films “Consideration” and “Destined” as case
studies, this session will look at strategies for raising money,
building an audience, and fostering collaborations in order to
create a sustainable indie filmmaking community right here in
Michigan.
3 PM – WRITING THE ADAPTATION
Lesley Alicia Tye, Instructor of Creative Writing and Motion Picture
Arts, Interlochen Arts Academy
You’ve got great source material which you know will make an
amazing movie, you’ve even secured the rights, but now what?
How do you transform a story told in a novel, comic book,
article, essay, or play and make it cinematically driven for the
screen? This session will explore example adapted screenplays
and talk about real strategies for adaptation. Participants are
encouraged to bring their adaptation ideas and questions for
the whole group to consider.
Wednesday & Thursday
2:45 PM – YOUNG FILMMAKERS WORKSHOP:
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! CLAYMATION ANIMATION
(AGES 7-11 YEARS)
Animate your own clay creations and make a short film that will
be shown on Saturday before the Kids Fest film! Students will
design and bring 3D claymation characters to life in this twoday workshop, presented by Blackbird Arts. You can read more
about their additional workshops, including an off-site threeday Claymation Animation camp for students ages 10-16,
at blackbirdartstc.com.
OFF SCREEN
TCFF PANELS
Join our visiting filmmakers from Hollywood, New York, and abroad as they tell
moviemaking stories, mixing it up with
each other and the audience. Panels
begin at 9:30 am Wednesday – Sunday
at the City Opera House, and returning
this year are 6 pm evening panels held
outdoors on select evenings on the Patio at Clinch Park, weather permitting.
Panel topics are SUBJECT TO CHANGE
and are free and open to the public.
Tickets are not issued. Watch tcff.org
for updated morning and evening panel
and panelist announcements.
71
Wednesday
Friday
Every 30 years or so, the cinema, it seems,
experiences huge shifts in form and content, often
revolutionary, due to the cultural and political zeitgeist.
1989 is considered by historians and critics to be
one of those years. The year began with “Sex, Lies
and Videotape”—and a new American indie film
movement was born. A new African-American
cinema movement was also ignited that year by Spike
Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.” It was the year Gus Van
Sant made his breakout film, “Drugstore Cowboy,”
not to mention the year that gave us Oliver Stone’s
masterpiece “Born on the Fourth of July,” Woody
Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” Paul Mazursky’s
“Enemies, A Love Story,” Denzel Washington’s
breakout film “Glory,” Jim Sheridan’s first film “My
Left Foot,” Kenneth Branagh’s first film “Henry V,”
Cameron Crowe’s “Say Anything,” Michael Lehmann’s
“Heathers,” Jane Campion’s “Sweetie,” Rob Reiner’s
“When Harry Met Sally.” And, the movie that gave
birth to the modern-day documentary, “Roger & Me,”
the first film by our own Michael Moore. Seemed like a
good idea to hold a 25th anniversary panel and discuss
all of this. Special guests TBA!
We have an incredible group of foreign filmmakers
and films joining us this year, from Belarus to Egypt to
Germany. Come hear how they make their movies, far
away from the Hollywood system, yet often fighting
censors and dealing with other hazards in trying to
simply make a movie that matters. They’ll talk about
their dedication to the importance of “story”—and
how every ending doesn’t have to be happy.
THE CLASS OF ‘89
9:30 AM – CITY OPERA HOUSE
WE DON’T MAKE AMERICAN FILMS
Thursday
10 THINGS WE WANT TO SAY IF YOU PROMISE
NOT TO RECORD THIS PANEL
Join our Hollywood veterans who, because they’re so
far up north in the woods and away from the major
media, will say the things they would never say back
in LA or New York. Hear the real scoop on how these
movies get made, which actors they try to avoid hiring,
the kickbacks, the fistfights, the hair, the make-up! And
because this panel is held in the early morning—and
most of our panelists will have been up all night—
come prepared to watch one of the most dangerous
panels of the week.
Saturday
WE CHOOSE NOT TO MAKE YOU CRY
Who needs a cup of coffee to get the day started right
when you can join us for a morning of wisecracks,
witticisms, humor, and repartee? We’ll explore the
funny business of making comedy. Always offbeat and
amusing, the TCFF comedy panel is a festival favorite
year after year.
Sunday
ONE ON ONE WITH...???
Traditionally, on Sunday of the festival, Michael
Moore sits down with a filmmaking legend for a
candid conversation about a storied career lived in
the movies. Stay tuned for our big announcement of
the next luminary to join the ranks of Wim Wenders,
Susan Sarandon, Michael Apted, and Paul Feig!
NAVIGATING THE FESTIVAL
Index
GAR
LAND
ST.
MUSIC CINEMA
STAGE SALON
PAR
K
WAY
BIJOU BY
THE BAY
Traverse City Film
Festival 2014
CLIN
CH
WALKING
TUNNEL
THE BUZZ
THE
FESTIVAL
VENUES
BY THE BAY
INSIDEOUT GALLERY
L ST
.
PAR
K
STATE
THEATRE
BOX
OFFICE
FRONT ST.
E
PARK ST.
CITY OPERA HOUSE
CASS ST.
UNION ST.
N
W
FRONT ST.
CITY • OPERA • HOUSE
FREE
PARKING
DECK
STATE ST.
STATE ST.
SIXTH ST.
EAST SIDE
AT NMC’S
BO
AR
PARKING
DECK
LARS
HOCKSTAD
DM
AN
RIV
ER
BOARDMAN
WASHINGTON ST.
SEVENTH ST.
LAWN PARTY
PARKING
CHERRY LOT
S
PINE
LAK
E ST
.
EIGHTH ST.
FREE PARKING
EIGHTH ST.
OLD TOWN
PLAYHOUSE
WEST SIDE at THIRLBY FIELD
MAP LEGEND
FILM VENUES
FREE
PARKING
CHERRY LOT
GRAND
TRAVERSE
BAY
FESTIVAL VENUES
NORTHWESTERN
MICHIGAN
COLLEGE
CAMPUS
TO DOWNTOWN VENUES
PARKING DECKS
BOX
OFFICE
BOX OFFICE
FILM SCHOOL
MILLIKEN AUDITORIUM
& DUTMERS THEATER
E. FRONT ST.
GARFIELD RD.
Letters to Jackie: Remembering
President Kennedy.....................................33
Life Itself................................................................33
Life of Crime...................................................... 20
Lonesome with the Alloy
Orchestra..........................................................61
Love and Terror on the Howling
Plains of Nowhere......................................33
Love Is Strange................................................. 20
The Lunchbox.....................................................25
Magic in the Moonlight..................................9
Manos Sucias......................................................26
Manuscripts Don’t Burn..............................26
Meet the Patels................................................ 34
Men at Work.......................................................45
Mike’s Surprise.................................................. 60
Mission Blue........................................................ 34
Mitt............................................................................ 34
The Newburgh Sting.................................... 34
Omar.........................................................................26
On Approval........................................................61
The One I Love................................................. 20
The Overnighters............................................35
Palo Alto.................................................................21
The Past..................................................................26
Pim & Pom: The Big Adventure.............69
Playing Dead.......................................................27
Please Vote for Me with West
Bank Story .....................................................45
Point and Shoot...............................................35
Print the Legend.............................................35
Profit motive and the
whispering wind...........................................45
Purgatorio: A Journey Into the
Heart of the Border..................................50
Return to Homs...............................................35
Rich Hill..................................................................35
Rubber Soul........................................................21
Running from Crazy.....................................36
Short Documentaries..................................67
Short Experimental Films.........................51
Short Narratives 1 & 2...............................66
Shorts by MSU Students...........................67
Shorts by U of M Students......................66
Shorts for Kids 1 & 2....................................69
Shorts for Midnight......................................56
Shorts from the
Ann Arbor Film Festival.........................51
Silenced.................................................................36
Sister........................................................................21
Slow Food Story..............................................36
Snowpiercer.......................................................27
Star Wars: Episode IV
A New Hope™.................................................5
Stations of the Cross...................................27
Still Life..................................................................27
Storied Streets.................................................60
Summer of Blood............................................21
Supermensch: The Legend of
Shep Gordon.................................................36
Thunder and the House of Magic.......69
Tillie’s Punctured Romance.....................61
To Be Takei..........................................................36
Troubled Water................................................46
Two Raging Grannies...................................37
The Unknown Known..................................37
Virunga...................................................................37
The Volcano........................................................27
Walking Under Water.................................37
Web Junkie.........................................................44
Wild Canaries....................................................21
The Wizard of Oz..............................................5
Yesterday and Tomorrow
in Detroit..........................................................50
Zombeavers........................................................56
IEW
GRAND
TRAVERSE
BAY
MOVIES ON
A BOAT
OPEN
SPACE
NDV
HAL
1971......................................................................... 30
112 Weddings................................................... 30
12-12-12...............................................................43
10%: What Makes a Hero?........................43
5 Broken Cameras......................................... 46
5 to 7........................................................................19
Al Helm: Martin Luther King in
Palestine........................................................... 30
The Babadook....................................................55
The Bachelor Weekend..............................22
Bag of Rice.......................................................... 60
Bending the Light........................................... 30
Black Coal, Thin Ice.........................................22
Blind Dates...........................................................22
Blue Is the Warmest Color.......................22
Blue Ruin................................................................19
The Broken Circle Breakdown.............. 46
Bronx Obama.................................................... 30
Calvary........................................................................9
The Canal...............................................................55
Casablanca...............................................................4
The Case Against 8.........................................31
Castaway on the Moon............................... 46
Casting By.............................................................31
Child’s Pose..........................................................23
Chinese Puzzle...................................................23
A Coffee in Berlin.............................................23
Coherence............................................................19
Cold in July...........................................................19
Creep........................................................................55
Dangerous Acts Starring the
Unstable Elements of Belarus............31
Der Samurai.........................................................55
Dinosaur 13.........................................................31
Divide in Concord............................................11
Don’t Leave Me.................................................31
Doug Benson’s Movie
Interruption: Road House..................... 56
Doug Loves Movies Podcast....................59
The Edukators....................................................45
An Evening with Larry Charles..............59
Excuse My French...........................................23
Face to Face........................................................ 46
Fading Gigolo.....................................................19
Fed Up.....................................................................32
Finding Vivian Maier......................................32
Fishing Without Nets...................................24
Fishtail......................................................................43
A Five Star Life..................................................24
Focus on Infinity...............................................49
The Forgotten Space....................................49
The German Doctor......................................24
The Gilded Cage...............................................24
A Goat for a Vote.............................................32
Good Driver Smetana..................................43
The Goonies...........................................................5
The Hand That Feeds................................... 44
Happy Valley........................................................32
Hellion..................................................................... 20
Human Capital...................................................11
The Hunt................................................................25
I Won’t Come Back.........................................25
The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of
Aaron Swartz..................................................32
Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?.............. 44
Ivory Tower..........................................................33
Jaws..............................................................................4
Jurassic Park..........................................................4
Karpotrotter........................................................49
Keep on Keepin’ On...................................... 44
The Keeper of Lost Causes.......................25
The Lab...................................................................43
La gran familia española................................9
La maison de la radio.................................... 44
LaDonna Harris: Indian 101.................... 60
Land Ho!................................................................ 20
GRA
73
CIVIC
CENTER
EIGHTH ST.

traverse city film festival!

Transcription

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