Ticket Sales open tomorrow SAT 07/18 to the general public, beginning @Noon (Walk-up Only) at our Front Street Cybercafé Box Office!! Plenty of tickets left!! Stop by and see us!

Phone and internet sales begin at 6 pm.

Admission prices to all festival events this year will remain the same as last year:

• Seats to regular movies are $9.00.

For More Information on Tickets, Click Here!

Mazursky, “Julie & Julia,” Woodstock Tribute, Kids Festival among 2009 highlights

The Traverse City Film Festival is gearing up for a really big birthday party, to be celebrated by a cast of thousands. The festival will mark its fifth anniversary July 28 through August 2 on the shores of Lake Michigan.

“It’s amazing that the festival is already five years old,” said film festival founder and Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore. “It seems like it was just yesterday that we had the crazy idea of making Traverse City the home to a major film festival that would bring the best of independent world cinema to northern Michigan. That goal has been fully realized, and along the way we began operating one of the best year-round movie theaters in the world. The festival keeps growing in stature and quality, and that will continue in spades this year.”

Moore has announced some of this year’s highlights among 110 screenings of more than 100 films and shorts to be shown in six venues: a tribute to the life and work of director, writer and actor Paul Mazursky, who will attend; a closing night premiere screening of “Julie & Julia” starring Meryl Streep; the 40th anniversary screening of the newly restored director’s cut of “Woodstock” with Wavy Gravy of Woodstock fame attending; a new TCFF Kids Festival; and the debut of a new TCFF Film School. The full festival schedule will be released July 2.

* The festival kicks off on Tuesday, July 28, with an Opening Night Film at the City Opera House and at the State Theatre, followed by an Opening Night Party in a transformed Wade Trim parking lot at the corner of Park and State Streets. At dusk, “Men in Black” will be shown for free on a giant screen outdoors in Open Space Park on the Bay.

* Paul Mazursky and family will be on hand for this year’s festival Tribute to a filmmaking legend. Mazursky’s filmography includes “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” “Moscow on the Hudson,” “Harry and Tonto,” “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” “Enemies: A Love Story,” “An Unmarried Woman” and dozens of others. Mazursky will appear at screenings of three of his films and will serve on a panel as well.

* The Closing Night Movie will be the Midwestern premiere of “Julie & Julia.” Starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child, the film also features Amy Adams in writer-director Nora Ephron’s adaptation of two best-selling memoirs: Powell’s “Julie & Julia” and “My Life in France” by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme. Based on two true stories, the film intertwines the lives of two women separated by time and space.

* The director’s cut of “Woodstock” will be featured during the festival to commemorate the 40th anniversary of one of rock’s most famous events. The film is not only newly restored, but features never-before-seen footage. In conjunction, Wavy Gravy of Woodstock announcer fame will attend and participate in the festival. A documentary about his life, “Saint Misbehavin’,” will be shown, with its director, Michelle Esrick, and producer, David Becker, also attending.

* The TCFF Kids Festival will present award-winning independent children’s films from around the world at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday at the State Theatre. Tickets will be reduced in price to $6.

“We have been paying close attention to children’s film festivals this year, looking for the best of the best,” said Moore. “The films we are bringing aren’t the big summer blockbusters that we normally hear about these are great films made for kids that most young people here would never get the chance to see.”

* The Traverse City Film Festival Film School is a another new addition this year, offering a chance for filmmaking students of all ages the opportunity to meet with a different filmmaker each day, who will present one of their films and answer questions. More details will be announced.

* Free Movies in Open Space Park on Grand Traverse Bay will once again be offered nightly at dusk. The lineup begins Tuesday, July 28, with “Men in Black,” followed by “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” on Wednesday, “Hair” on Thursday, “Goonies” on Friday and “Big” with Tom Hanks on Saturday. Sunday will be a makeup date if an earlier screening is rained out.

Food vendors on site at the family movies in Open Space will include That’sa Pizza, House of Dogs, Espresso Bay, Aw…Shucks roasted corn, Why Knot Hot Baked Pretzels, Opa! and American Spoon Foods gelato.

* The festival box office, cybercafe and store will again be located on the main floor of Radio Centre on East Front Street at Park, offering a comfortable place to sit and review the schedule, watch film festival trailers, drink complimentary coffee, and check the Internet and email at computer stations. Festival merchandise will also be sold out of this storefront beginning on July 4.

* Tickets go on sale at the Front Street cybercafe box office to Friends of the Film Festival on Sunday, July 12, at 12 noon on a walk-up basis only. At 6 p.m. that day, Friends my also begin purchasing tickets by phone and online.

* Public ticket sales begin Saturday, July 18, for walk-up only starting at 12 noon. Phone and Internet sales commence at 6 p.m.

* There is still time to sign up as a 2009 Friend and get the 2009 Friend benefits by Clicking Here. Membership in the 2009 Friends organization is open until tickets go on sale to the public on July 18, the day 2009 benefits expire and registration opens for 2010 Friends. Friends who sign up for 2010 by 12 noon on closing day are eligible for a drawing for festival prizes and other prizes on closing night. And Friends who renew for 2010 before the end of September 2009 can join at the original Friend rates. Friends membership rates double in cost on October 2, 2009.

* Admission prices to all festival events will remain the same as last year. Tickets to regular movies are $9. Opening and closing night films are $25, with opening and closing night parties ticketed separately at $50. Friends of the Traverse City Film Festival get half off opening and closing night party tickets, according to their benefit level. Tickets are available in advance and during the festival. During festival week, credit cards will be accepted at all venues for box tickets, merchandise and concessions for the first time.

* Daily morning panel discussions featuring film industry guests and Michael Moore will be presented at no charge at 9:30 a.m. in the City Opera House. The panel schedule will be announced in early July.

* Downtown merchants will be invited to participate in a film festival window display contest this year, with prizes to be awarded for board and fan favorites.

* Movie screenings will be held at 12 noon, 3, 6 and 9 p.m. at the State Theatre, the City Opera House, the Old Town Playhouse, Lars Hockstad Auditorium, and Milliken Auditorium at the Dennos Museum Center, along with midnight movies in the evenings and kids movies in the mornings at the State.

* The Children’s House will offer low-cost, licensed childcare for festivalgoers Wednesday through Sunday. Interested parents should visit www.traversechildrenshouse.org/filmfest.asp for more information, to offer comments, or make reservations.

* Sponsorships are available to companies, groups and individuals interested in supporting the festival while receiving perks like attendance at the pre-festival Founders Party on July 26, early admittance to all festival screenings, green room access at sponsored screenings and fifth anniversary festival sponsor wear. Sponsorships begin for as little as $250 for a quarter movie sponsorship, and go to $10,000 for sponsorship of an entire venue. To find out more, phone 231-392-1134 or email terry@traversecityfilmffestival.org.

* As always, it takes a village of volunteers to run the festival. Volunteer by yourself, with friends and family, or with a group of friends or co-workers. To sign up, Click Here.

* Recycling efforts are being stepped up again this year as the festival aims for a true zero waste goal. All cups and plates at concessions will be recyclable in addition to other paper products.

Visit Traverse City Film Festival Website >>>>