2005 Panels

July 28, 2005
Is it Art? Or is it Politics? Traverse City Wants to Know
A live, on-stage talk with Michael Moore about the line between art and politics and what makes for good cinema. "There's an interesting discussion of whether this Film Festival is political," Moore said. "You have to recognize that if you are going to be a filmmaker, you have to do the filmmaking first, not the politics, because you'll lose people on the politics."

July 29, 2005
Is Fiction Dead? The Rise of Documentary Films
Producer Kathleen Glynn ("Bowling for Columbine," "Fahrenheit 9-11"), documentary directors Alex Gibney ("Enron") and Marilyn Agrelo ("Mad Hot Ballroom"), fiction writer Bob Sloan (author of the Lenny Bliss crime novels), and Adrian Belic ("Genghis Blues") discuss the reasons why fictional movies seem to be dying at the box office while documentaries are becoming more and more popular. New York Times best-selling author Doug Stanton moderates.

July 30, 2005
Hollywood Confidential: Stories We Will Only Tell in Traverse City
Hollywood writers, directors and agents tell tales out of school about what it's really like to work in Tinseltown. Panelists include Rob Tappert, producer of the recent "Spiderman" movies; screenwriter Larry Brand ("Halloween: Resurrection") who was once a personal assistant to Orson Welles; screenwriter Chuck Pfarrer ("The Jackal," "Darkman"); Leelanau County resident and HBO producer Rebecca Reynolds; director and animator Robert Hughes ("Angry Beavers"); Richard Brooks ("Law & Order"); and Joel Milner ("Some Folks Call it a Slingblade"). Michael Moore moderates.

July 31, 2005
How to Make a Great Movie for $30,000
Two directors of films to be shown in the festival discuss making hit movies with very little money: Andrew Wagner ("The Talent Given Us") and Jonathan Caouette ("Tarnation"). Jeff Gibbs, composer and co-producer on Moore's "Fahrenheit 9-11" and "Bowling for Columbine," moderates. "This one's especially for students and young people interested in filmmaking," Moore said. "You don't have to wait until you have the multimillion dollar Hollywood deal to make your own movie."