This year was the 2nd year for The Traverse City Film Festival. It was held in Downtown Traverse City and coordinated by Michael Moore. Yes, that Michael Moore. Love him or hate him, Mr. Moore put together a great festival.

The festival took place July 31 to August 6. There were 68 different films featured. The films included classic American films such as Jurassic Park and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, soon-to-be-released American films like Little Miss Sunshine and Borat, some already released but not widely seen American films like the politically charged films Who Killed the Electric Car? and An Inconvenient Truth but also the severely underrated films Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang and The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.

In addition, there were various foreign films (including several Iranian entries), both foreign and American documentaries, including one on Tommy Chong, This Film is Not Yet Rated (about the MPAA), quite a few about the war in Iraq and incidents at Guantanamo Bay and Air Guitar Nation (from Finland). Air Guitar Nation documents a national air guitar contest. Screenings sold out fast and an air guitar contest was held at a local bar after the last screening.

There was also a tribute to Stanley Kubrick, featuring several of his best films, including A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket. Matthew Modine was at the screening of Full Metal Jacket and spoke at the bookstore next to the theater where the film played afterwards. The festival also featured tributes to directors David O. Russell and Lawrence Bender. There were a couple of films (Hotel Rwanda and Some Mothers’ Son) from director Terry George, listed as Festival Guest Director. I guess he was good enough to be featured but not good enough for a tribute.

There were also panels and parties. The panels included discussions about film, ranging on topics from Hollywood to Iraq and discussed politics and art within filmmaking. The panelists included Hollywood heavies like Jeff Daniels and Malcolm McDowell (both had films in the festival; Daniels’ Squid and The Whale and McDowell’s A Clockwork Orange) and film directors whose films were featured in the festival. There were three parties at the beginning, middle and end of the festival. The closing party featured Michael Moore announcing a big surprise. Through the local newspaper blog featured on the website for the festival, I learned that the surprise was a previously unreleased film of Mr. Moore’s about the 2004 election.

So, that’s the general wrap-up. Now I will present my own personal experience.

I was able to go the festival on Friday and Saturday, August 4 and 5. I went with my close friend, Becky, my mom and step-dad. We caught four films:

• The Beauty Academy of Kabul, an American documentary about a group of American cosmetologists who go to Afghanistan to try to help counteract the oppression of women brought on by the Taliban.

• Men at Work, an Iranian comedy (yes, that’s what I said.)

• Viva Zapatero, an Italian documentary about the cancellation of a political satire show that had resulted from the show poking fun at the country’s Prime Minister (think Bush canceling Saturday Night Live or The Daily Show) and,

• The TV Set, an American comedy by director Jake Kasdan about the trials and tribulations of making a TV show in Hollywood.

The films were entertaining and enlightening. I learned from The Beauty Academy of Kabul that in the 60’s, women were wearing mini-skirts and other modern fashion. So the Taliban had gone away for a time. I’d like to know how that happened so it could happen again.

Watching Men at Work was great. With the media portraying the country as being constantly bombed, I couldn’t imagine a film being made in Iran, let alone a comedy. And it was funny! It was a little too Seinfeldian for me, but funny.

Viva Zapatero demonstrated that politics and media conflicts exist in several countries in ways similar to the U.S. There was one great interview in the film that still sticks out in my mind. The filmmaker, Sabina Guzzanti, who was also the artist whose show was cancelled, was questioning several political figures about why and how the show was cancelled. She was speaking to one of them and asking such a question. He told her that there were rules of satire that had to be followed and she hadn’t done that. She then asked him, “What rules?” His reply: “There are no rules.” What? But he just said there were rules and then he just said there are no rules. What? Sound familiar?

The TV Set didn’t really show me anything new. But it aptly demonstrated how artists often have to choose between artistic integrity and the Almighty Dollar. Making TV and films is seldom about pure art anymore. It is a business and often making money wins over making art. Sigh.

I was fortunate enough to have 3 out of 4 of the directors of the films present at each screening, all but The Beauty Academy of Kabul. There was an introduction by each director of his or her film and then a Q & A session after each. These further enhanced my entertainment, enlightenment and embarrassment.

My mother had to ask questions. It wouldn’t have been so bad, except that she had to qualify her questions with, “I have a beautiful, intelligent daughter who wants to be a filmmaker”. Sure, that is a very true statement, especially the part about me being beautiful and intelligent, but having your mom point it out in front of hundreds of people is nonetheless embarrassing. I’m 31 years old and still her little girl. But I got a good laugh out of it, and her queries yielded good answers, so it was great.

I learned from Men at Work director, Mani Haghighi, that I should just make my films and forget film school and working on other people’s projects and that I could, like Jake Kasdan had done for The TV Set, edit on a Mac. Mr. Moore shared a story about how he didn’t finish college. He couldn’t find a parking space one day while trying to get to class, so he just went home and never came back. Classic.

I was able to see films at each venue: The Old Town Playhouse, The State Theatre, The City Opera House and The Open Space. Most of the films played in the first three venues. Each had recently been restored for the festival and all were great. I loved the balcony at The Playhouse, the plush seats at The State Theatre and the classic architecture of The Opera House.

The Open Space, an accurate description (there was a big screen and an ample grassy knoll that was near the main festival area), had a different film each night at 10pm showing for free! There was Jurassic Park, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Napoleon Dynamite, The Wizard of Oz, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Dr. Strangelove.

I saw Pee Wee and Jurassic Park on Saturday. Jurassic Park was rained out of its original screening, so that rescheduled it for this Saturday night double feature.

I had so much fun. It was a film buff’s dream. The weather was great. The films were awesome. I couldn’t have had a better time - unless I could have gone the whole week and seen all the films for free, of course.

It was great to see so many foreign films and lesser-seen American films. The festival further solidified my belief that film is the great communicator. It allows us to really understand other people’s points of view in a way that no other medium can. You could read about the same events and ideas, but it wouldn’t have the same impact. The addition of sight and sound in their presentation makes such a difference. I love film.

If you love film, please make plans to go to next year’s festival. You can even suggest which films you’d like to see next year – at least in The Open Space – by going to the website. You can also make donations that can get you perks like buying tickets before the general public is able to and discounts on parties and merchandise.

I’ll see you there!!