Traverse City Film Festival: July 28 – Aug. 2, 2009

The Fifth Annual Traverse City Film Festival is coming up in a few weeks and will be held July 28 to August 2, 2009 in Traverse City, Michigan.

Looks like a great lineup of films and special guests. There will be daily morning panel discussions with film industry guests, and free movies shown at the Open Space at night. Paul Mazursky will be on hand for this year’s Tribute to a filmmaking legend. His films include "Down and Out in Beverly Hills," "An Unmarried Woman," and "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice."

Tickets go on sale to Friends of the Film Festival on Sunday, July 12, at 12 noon on a walk-up basis at the Front Street cybercafe box office. At 6 p.m. that day, Friends can buy tickets by phone and online. Public ticket sales start Saturday, July 18, for walk-up only starting at 12 noon. Phone and Internet sales start at 6 p.m. Tickets for regular movies are $9; opening and closing night films are $25.

For more info and to see a schedule, check out the Traverse City Film Festival site. Here’s just a few of the films I’ll be seeing and reviewing for Film Gecko:

The Answer Man. Jeff Daniels stars as Arlen Faber, the reclusive author of a best-selling spirituality guide titled "Me and God" who is still hiding from his answer-seeking fans twenty years after the publication of his wildly popular book. Faber is forced to admit that he might not have all the answers when his life collides with Elizabeth, a chiropractor and a single mother, and Kris, a fresh-out-of-rehab bookstore owner.

More after the jump…

Big Fan. Comedian Patton Oswalt stars as Paul Aufiero, a working-class Staten Islander whose life revolves around his obsession with the New York Giants. Paul sees the opportunity of a lifetime when he spots the Giants’ star quarterback Quantrell Bishop at a nearby gas station, but things take a turn for the worse after he follows Bishop to a Manhattan night club. A misunderstanding results in Paul receiving a bad beating from the player he idolizes. Paul’s devotion is put to the test when his family pressures him to take legal action against his hero, leaving the fate of his beloved Giants’ season squarely in his hands.

The Cove. Winner of the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, this riveting documentary exposes the disturbing practices of the dolphin trade in Japan in dare-devil fashion. A gripping film that plays as part heist thriller and part expose, "The Cove" follows activist Richard O’Barry (the man who trained Flipper) on an "Ocean’s Eleven"-style operation as he and a team of fellow activists infiltrate the cove in Taiji, Japan in order to document the fishing practices that result in the death of tens of thousands of dolphins annually.

Dead Snow. Embracing the campy gore-fest tradition of films like "The Evil Dead," this outlandish horror flick follows a group of Norwegian medical students vacationing in an isolated cabin in the snowy Norwegian Alps. Something goes terribly wrong, and the group is suddenly overwhelmed by Nazi zombies bent on finding successively more clever ways of dismembering the campers.

Examined Life. Witness intellectual gymnastic performances from some of the world’s top minds in this philoso-doc that pulls prominent scholars out from their journals and classrooms and into places and spaces that hold particular resonance for their ideas. Featuring such celebrities of the cerebral realm as Cornel West (riffing on Plato and jazz from the back of a cab), Peter Singer (on consumption on Fifth Avenue) and Slavoj Zizek (who rants about environmentalism while wandering through a dump), director Astra Taylor’s documentary aims to offer a lively introduction to the ideas of some of today’s most influential thinkers.

Food, Inc. An eye-opening expose of the dark side of our nation’s agri-business industry, "Food, Inc." builds on the works of authors Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore’s Dilemma") and Eric Schlosser ("Fast Food Nation") to tear the veil off Big Agriculture. The film takes on the business of food from farm to fork, showing the steps our food takes to get from industrial feedlots to fast food chains and supermarkets, as well as showing the political decisions that led to the current state of affairs.

The Garden. Nominated for Best Documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, this film presents three years in the life of the nation’s largest urban community garden, located in South Central Los Angeles — the same neighborhood devastated by the 1992 Rodney King riots. After a 12-year run of overwhelming success in the hands of hardworking farmers, the South Central Farm comes under threat by wealthy developers and an unsupportive local government. Director Scott Hamilton Kennedy (who will be present at the screening) navigates the bureaucratic battle between the farmers, developers and city hall in this fascinating document about grassroots activism and the strength of community.

Harmony and Me. The latest film from director Robert Byington (whose film "Registered Sex Offender" is also playing in this year’s TCFF) is a crowd-pleasing, quirky, sad-sack slacker comedy about a guy who seems to want nothing more from life than to cultivate misery. Harmony (played by musician Justin Rice) had his heart broken by his ex-girlfriend months ago and he still masochistically refuses to let go of the pain. His only solace comes from re-telling his tale of woe to the often deaf ears of his oddball friends and family.

Humpday. Ben (Mark Duplass) is a 30ish guy with a steady job, settling quietly into married life. But when his globetrotting pseudo-Bohemian college buddy Andrew (Joshua Leonard) shows up unannounced at his doorstep, the two fall back into their old ways. Their natural spirit of one-upmanship during a night of heavy drinking leads the guys to a mutual dare to shoot and star in a film to be entered in an amateur adult film festival. Their gimmick? To make a dude-on-dude "erotic art film" featuring themselves — two straight guys — as the leads. Even after sobriety kicks in the next day, the guys are too macho to back down from their dare.

Julie & Julia. Meryl Streep and Amy Adams star in Nora Ephron’s captivating film about the early days of renowned chef Julia Child’s career, and Julie Powell’s attempt — more than forty years later — to cook and blog her way through all 524 recipes in Child’s definitive "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in just 365 days. Child’s sojourn to Paris in the 1940s where she fell in love with cooking is set against Powell’s modern life in Queens, New York. Directed by Nora Ephron, the film weaves the two stories together, paralleling the lives of two women who discover their passions using fearlessness and lots of butter.

Learning Gravity. Thomas Lynch (who will be present at the screening) is an Irish-American whose family has owned and operated funeral homes in Southeastern Michigan for the three generations. He’s also a renowned writer whose poems and essays on the lives of those who work with death have won numerous awards and served as the inspiration for the HBO series "Six Feet Under."

A Matter of Size. Herzl is overweight and still living with his mother. His diet group isn’t going so well either; they’ve given him the boot after he manages to gain 28 pounds in two months. After landing a new job as a dishwasher in a Japanese restaurant, he discovers the world of sumo wrestling and convinces three of his chubby chums to join him in starting a sumo club. A lighthearted comedy about self-acceptance, this festival fave has already been picked up for a Hollywood remake. In Hebrew with English subtitles.

No Impact Man. How much of your lifestyle would you give up to save the planet? This environmental documentary follows Manhattan-based author Colin Beavan as he pledges to put an end to his complacent consumerism and make zero environmental impact for a year, living without electricity, eating only locally grown food and even giving up toilet paper. The only potential snag is that Beavan has to drag his Starbucks-addicted, shopaholic wife and their toddler daughter along for the ride.

Outtakes from Bruno. World Premiere! For the first time anywhere, festivalgoers in Traverse City will see scenes that were too hot for the brand new comedy hit, "Bruno." Director Larry Charles takes you behind the scenes and shares clips no one will see anywhere else — except at the TCFF. Security will prohibit the videotaping of these never-to-be-released "Bruno" excerpts. Only adults 17 years and older will be admitted.

Patrik, Age 1.5. Happily married Swedish gay couple Sven and Goran are missing just one thing: a child. So they decide to adopt. But a clerical error at the adoption agency means that instead of the 1.5-year-old Patrik they were expecting, they get a homophobic 15-year-old boy with a police record. Will Patrik give up his tough-guy ways, or will he drive a wedge through the happy couple’s marriage?

Roger and Me: The 20th Anniversary. This year the festival that Michael Moore founded and runs pays tribute to his debut documentary, the film that forever changed the course of documentary filmmaking. In his mid-30s, Moore ran bingo games in his hometown of Flint to fund a movie about GM chairman Roger Smith and the closing of a Flint factory that resulted in the elimination of over 30,000 jobs. Its 1989 Telluride premiere gave audiences their first taste of the blend of scathing wit, moments of human tragedy and satire that has become a signature of Moore’s body of work. Sadly, Moore’s prescient portrait of a city in decline is even more relevant now than it was twenty years ago. Special guests from the film will be present at the screening.

Saint Misbehavin’: The Wavy Gravy Movie. The clown prince of peace, Wavy Gravy has been an institution for decades. Securing his place in history with his unforgettable presence at Woodstock, Wavy has been on a mission that reaches beyond political, economic and cultural divisions. Director Michelle Esrick spent ten years following Wavy Gravy around the globe and documenting the amazing journey of this true servant to humanity. Much more than a Ben and Jerry’s flavor, Wavy Gravy is living proof that you can make the world a better place and have fun doing it. In person: producer David Becker, director Michelle Esrick, Wavy Gravy.

Troubled Water. This film from director Erik Poppe tells the story of a young man just released from prison after serving eight years for a terrible crime. A gifted organist, Jan is on a quiet path to redemption, playing in a church and even winning the heart of the church’s pastor and her young son. But he is soon forced to confront his past when a woman whose life has been forever scarred by his actions visits the church with her class.

Valentino: The Last Emperor. Filmed during the last year of legendary Italian designer Valentino Garavani’s reign over the world of high fashion, this documentary offers a glimpse into the beauty and opulence of Valentino’s haute couture lifestyle. Filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer gained unprecedented access into Valentino’s realm, following the designer (and his troupe of five pugs) around the globe from yachts and private planes to design studios as he prepares his final collection for a lavish show in Rome. In person: director Matt Tyrnauer, producer Matt Kapp, Ted Alexandre.

Winnebago Man. A superstar on the Internet but almost unheard of elsewhere, Jack Rebney had a bit of unwanted fame thrust upon him when outtakes of his profane tirades from RV sales videos shot over 20 years ago found their way online. Writer/director Ben Steinbauer’s fascination with these viral videos and his quest to track down the somewhat reclusive Rebney are the subject of this hilarious new documentary. In person: producer Joel Heller, writer/producer/editor Malcolm Pullinger, and director Ben Steinbauer.

Woodstock: The Director’s Cut. Forty years ago, half a million people of all colors, shapes, sizes, ages and sexes attended the Woodstock Music and Art Fair at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in rural New York. The little fair became rock ‘n’ roll’s most famous event, an iconic representation of a generation’s ideals. We’ll recreate this seminal time and place with the magnificent restoration of the Director’s Cut, the Oscar-winning documentary that completely and poignantly captures the landmark music celebration. Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Janis Joplin are just a few of the greatest performers in history preserved in this film. In person: Wavy Gravy, Country Joe McDonald.

Image Credits: Amazon.com; Sony Pictures