Year 10 is in the Can! TCFF Wraps with Awards, Broken Records, and Gratitude

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Friends,

Thank you for making the 10th Anniversary of the Traverse City Film Festival the best, most memorable, most awesome celebration of movies we’ve ever had.

Over 131,000 admissions attended 250 screenings of 128 feature films and 85 shorts in our 12 venues — including this year’s immensely popular new additions, Movies on a Boat and The Buzz (both of which you can count on returning next year)!

We also added Next, a cool interactive media exhibit at The Buzz; had a special “Best of” lineup at the Open Space; started things early with Movies Around the Bay; and hosted Movies Around the World, a memorable cinematic experience that found people in far-flung locales from China to Australia watching a film simultaneously across time zones, and interacting via internet hookup before and after the film.

Plus, we’re raising money for a Hollywood style Walk of Fame right outside the State Theatre. Bidding on the Walk of Fame auction ends at midnight TODAY, so head on over to tcff.org/auction and check out the great items, one-of-a-kind experiences, and steals before they disappear!

I would personally like to thank the 1,600 volunteers and volunteer managers, 110 filmmakers, and 300 sponsors who made this all possible — as well as everyone who attended the film festival and supported us over the past 10 years. Kudos also to:

  • Groundbreaking filmmaker Barbara Kopple, who accepted this year’s Mid-Life Achievement Award
  • Archivist Rick Prelinger and film industry veteran Ira Deutchman, who accepted our Visionary Awards.
  • Chaz Ebert, who presented “Life Itself,” the Founders Prize Special Award-winning documentary about her late husband Roger Ebert, and then joined me onstage at Mike’s Surprise.
  • All of this year’s award winners, including the first film in TCFF history to ever win the Founders Grand Prize for Best Film and the Audience Award for Best Documentary, “Meet the Patels.” See the full list of award winners here.

But even after such a banner year, we are not ones to rest on our laurels. We want your feedback on what you liked, what you didn’t, and what could be improved. Please take a moment to fill out this survey about your festival experience — it will help us more than you know!

If you are suffering from post-fest withdrawal like me, check out the incredible photos taken by our volunteer photographers and the annual festival montage. Both capture the enchanting spirit and force of moviegoing love you have helped create here in Traverse City over the past decade.

Now that we’re back to reality, the State and the Bijou will reopen on Thursday with “Chef,” “Le Chef,” and “Begin Again.” For those of you who missed it, the TCFF Closing Night film “Magic in the Moonlight” will open at the State on August 15. And for you Met Opera lovers out there, please note that tickets go on sale NEXT Friday, August 15. Check out the schedule here.

Thanks Again for 10 Great Years!

Michael Moore
President and Founder
Traverse City Film Festival