by Pat Frickey

Michael Moore is a revolutionary, that’s no surprise. This activist and documentary filmmaker is adored/reviled for his sixteen documentaries including ROGER & ME (1989) about Roger B. Smith’s, CEO of General Motors, closing down plants in Moore’s hometown Flint, Michigan; BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE (2002) which focuses on gun violence surrounding the Columbine High School massacre; and his most recent FAHRENHEIT 9/11 (2018) which spotlights Trump’s 2016 election and presidency.

But there is more to Michael Moore than being a strident political activist and documentary filmmaker. Michael had, sometime along the way, moved from scruffy Flint, Michigan, northwards to upscale Traverse City, Michigan. He fell in love with this picturesque city by the bay and decided to bring the magic of movies to the town mostly known for its annual Cherry Festival. As the face of and one of the co-founders of the Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF), starting in 2005, his mission was to show “Just Great Movies.”

I attended the TCFF in 2012 as an accredited journalist. It was a lot of fun seeing films and celebrities in a small-town festival atmosphere. What I found refreshing was the egalitarian spirit, so much was being run by volunteers. In fact, it was so egalitarian I had absolutely no privileges being a member of the press. I had to scrounge up my own tickets. At one point I tried to cut the line to get into the Susan Sarandon/Michael Moore joint interview by flashing my badge. Tough luck. I had to get back in line like the rest of the townsfolk; luckily, I was eventually able to get one of the last coveted seats in the beautifully refurbished State Theatre. Undaunted, I had a marvelous time surrounded by a town bubbling with movie magic. Most fortunate of all was that my email address was indelibly added to their files, and I have been receiving Michael Moore’s emails ever since.

I had always been planning on returning to the July TCFF someday. Forget that.

I began this saying Michael Moore is a revolutionary, and that applies to his festival, too. In May Michael Moore wrote us a shocking email announcing that the 2023 TCFF was being cancelled/ being reinvented. The festival had just broken even after the pandemic years with the help of an almost $1 million COVID-19 relief grant. Rather than a week-long festival in July, there would be weekly films every Tuesday beginning with HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE shown on October 3. He wrote: “Friends, Thank you for the incredible outpouring of love and gratitude this week after our announcement that we were concluding one era of the Traverse City Film Festival and planning to enter a new phase that brings great movies to an even larger audience—but at a price we (and you) can afford. A festival (or festivals) for the people—all the people—and perhaps not just for 5 or 6 days in July… NEW ERA! NEW WAY! NEW TCFF! 52 WEEKS! 52 MOVIES! EVERY TUESDAY! ALL YEAR LONG!”

This Michael Moore fan also hopes that the NEW TCFF! will eventually be available online for “all the people,” though I will miss returning to Traverse City someday to sit in those comfy XXL seats in the State Theatre.  Even more is my fervent hope that this doesn’t become a trend, the beginning of an unstoppable revolution, and the NEW ERA! NEW WAY! for other small-town film festivals to follow. Not all revolutions end well.