WITHOUT FILM FEST: Community awaits new cultural offerings

Aug. 4—TRAVERSE CITY — As the summer enters its last leg, there's one source of sidewalk traffic that has been missing this week — Traverse City Film Festival-goers.

The five-day event, which typically began in late July, was discontinued in May following a 16-year-run, minus two summers of COVID-19-related cancellations.

The absence leaves a gap in Traverse City's cultural fabric, if not its tourism industry, some area leaders said.

"The Traverse City Film Festival was an amazing celebration of art and entertainment," said Trevor Tkach, president of Traverse City Tourism. "It had grown into something that truly set the Traverse City area apart. ... When you lose an iconic activity or event like that, you can't just turn on something new and expect it to have the same level of success and notoriety."

Mickie Barnhart, an 85-year-old Traverse City resident, said she attended her first Traverse City Film Festival in 2007, and since then, has appreciated the ambiance the event brought.

"It was all wrapped in Traverse City," she said, exiting the State Theatre following a matinee showing of "Oppenheimer" on Thursday. "It seemed to me the whole city kind of folded its arms around it."

Filmmaker Michael Moore co-founded the festival in 2006, and the program typically would include some 200 films, screened across multiple venues in Traverse City.

Those venues included The State and Bijou, two historic downtown theaters owned by the nonprofit Traverse City Film Festival organization. A free movie also would play every night outside at the Open Space.

A few doors down from the State, at Horizon Books, the lack of a film festival hasn't had much of an impact as far as sales go — in fact, the store had stronger sales this week compared to the same week last year, owner Amy Reynolds said.

There has been a difference in the flow of foot traffic — less of a rush coinciding with breaks between screenings. The consistent trickle of patrons has been easier on her staff, she said.

Still, she also misses the cultural contribution the event offered.

"It's pretty fun to have the film festival," she said. "It was a really fun crowd [of] people interested in the arts in general.

"And, of course, a lot of those movies have very specific tie-ins with books, so it was a good match for us."

Their proximity to the theater still makes for good synergy: The past two weeks, they've had "American Prometheus," the biography upon which "Oppenheimer" is based, prominently displayed.

Tkach said the discontinuation of this year's film festival resulted in cancellations at several downtown hotels, but tourism has remained high this week.

Dawn Gildersleeve, Cherry Republic general manager and president of the Downtown Traverse City Association Board, said business also has been good at her business' downtown location.

But she added that doesn't mean more can't be done to fill the entertainment needs of those visitors.

"We have traffic. Traffic is here," she said. "So now it's a matter of, what are we going to do with that traffic?"

The Downtown Development Authority is taking up the mantle of at least one summer tradition lost with the Film Fest.

Later this month, the DDA will be showing two movies to the public at Rotary Square. The selections, chosen by the public via a competition, will be "Moana" on Aug. 15 and "Top Gun: Maverick" on Aug. 22.

The plan for the events "came together quickly," through partnerships with many local entities, said DDA Director Jean Derenzy.

"I've lived here long enough, and I've talked to enough people in the recent months to know that there's a lot of passion and interest to see new ... [cultural events] come on line, and to take new chances and see where we go," said Tkach.

"And I will say this too — Michael Moore did make a promise that they would be reinventing and delivering the film festival in new ways in the future. So I'm still optimistic to see what that looks like."

Last year was the first year the Film Fest returned after a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, the program included 50 movies on six screens, and sold about 15,000 presale tickets, as previously reported.

It was the first time the festival broke even, and allowed the nonprofit the opportunity to change course, Moore said in May.

The shift would mean refocusing on year-round programming, with the possibility of a more permanent, reformatted event somewhere down the line.

Several business leaders this week said they wished to see an event outside of peak tourism season — like in September.

As of this week, Moore was unable to offer many specifics about what that might look like.

But, in a text message, he said the Film Fest was a "beloved institution" and that the organization had "many great things planned for the future."

"When faced with the question, 'Do you want a film festival once a year for just five days that costs over $1 million dollars to produce, or would you like to see film festival-quality films all year-round?', the response from our audience is quite clear," Moore wrote. "A year-round festival that costs a lot less money is the preferred and sensible route."

The discontinuation of Film Fest came at a time when many movie theaters, already hampered by the emergence of streaming, were struggling to draw audiences following the pandemic.

TCFF's first goal following the change this year was to keep their nonprofit theaters alive, Moore said.

Those venues have had two of their biggest weeks in years, with the success of "Barbie" at the Bijou and "Oppenheimer" at State, he said.

Nationwide, the internet-fueled "Barbenheimer" phenomenon — generating hype around the twin-release dates of those two films — contributed to the most successful box office weekend since the pandemic, Variety reported two weeks ago.

As she was leaving "Oppenheimer," Barnhart said she thought the three-hour character study was "complicated" but "very entertaining." Meanwhile, she said she had no interest in "Barbie."

Her past experiences with the Film Fest, however? "Terrific," she said.

One of the best things about it was the way an attendee could "pick any kind of route" they wanted in their viewing choices — "serious, funny, informative, whatever."

"I'm gonna miss it," she said. "And I guess, as Michael Moore said [in his May announcement], everything comes to an end, and you move on and change."

Reporter Jordan Travis contributed to this article.