Traverse City Film Festival's Strange Attraction to Austin

The eighth annual Traverse City Film Festival will be held July 31 through August 5 in Michigan. The festival was founded by filmmaker/activist Michael Moore in his hometown. Moore recently wrote about his decision to restore the theatre in Traverse City and start a film festival there. Unlike other film festivals that tend to be pricey, Moore says, "Tickets are cheap, and many events -- like the nightly outdoor films we show on a 100-foot screen by the water --– are free."

Of the 91 shorts and features scheduled during the 2012 fest, six have Texas connections. Bob Byington's Somebody Up There Likes Me (SXSW review), Richard Linklater's Bernie (SXSW review), Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter (review), Alex Karpovsky's Red Flag (LAFF review), and Dallas native Terence Nance's An Oversimplification of Her Beauty will be screened at the Michigan festival. Kat Candler's short film Hellion (SXSW review) will be shown as a midnight short.

Byington, who was awarded the Stanley Kubrick Award for Innovative Filmmaking at the 2009 fest, will appear on a panel about comedy in film with Larry Charles.

We asked Byington about the panel. "I did it in 2009 with Ben Steinbauer, Michael Moore, Larry Charles and Jeff Garlin, it was kind of amazing," he replied. "It was a dream come true, and made me feel silly for ever being cynical about anything."

Sometimes-Austinite filmmaker/actor Karpovsky will also appear on a panel (with Wim Wenders!) on the changing technology of film. 

Austin filmmakers tend to do well at Traverse City Film Festival, year after year. The same year Byington won his award, Ben Steinbauer's Winnebago Man won Best Comedy Documentary. In 2010, Paul Gordon's The Happy Poet won the Fiction Jury Prize for Emerging Talent. In 2011, documentary Where Soldiers Come From by Heather Courtney scored the Founders Prize for Best U.S. Documentary Film.

Why do Austin filmmakers so often end up bringing home prizes from the fest? And why does a Michigan festival have such strong representation from the Lone Star State every year?

"Michael Moore programs the festival, and I think he is very responsive to the notion that a community like Austin breeds a type of sensibility that in turn churns out a bunch of different, unique movies. That's what he told me anyway," Byington said.

While none of us from Slackerwood can make the trip to Michigan, we're keeping an eye out for the awards announcement at the end of the fest.

[Photo credit: Bob Byington at TCFF 2009, courtesy of Mr. Byington]