-- Moore Madonna: The repartee flowed Saturday on stage at the State Theatre. "I heard that he (Moore) put his back out last night at a heavy metal concert or something? Thrashing about? When are you gonna learn?" Madonna asked Moore. "You're not going to take me on tour as one of your dancers, is that what you are saying?" Moore retorted. A dead-pan Madonna replied: "No."
-- A special standing O: The premise behind "Baghdad High" is sort of like what might happen if somebody made a teen reality show in Iraq. Filmmakers gave four Baghdad teens video cameras to record their daily lives as students in a war zone. Only one of the four young men featured in the film was able to travel to Traverse City when it screened Friday night at the Old Town Playhouse. So, at the suggestion of an audience member, somebody grabbed a video camera and the crowd was filmed giving a long and boisterous standing ovation. The clip has been posted on YouTube so that the young men in Iraq can feel the love. To view the video, click here »
-- Overheard Saturday while crossing a downtown street: "In America they stop for you," said a teenage boy with an accent (European, maybe?) to his teenage friends while they crossed against a "Don't Walk" sign.
-- Friday Night Live special: Morsels Bakery's chocolate treat created just for the film festival: the Michael Moore-sel.
-- Deutsch 101: Some Film Festival patrons attending the Thursday screening of "Dust" at the Old Town Playhouse might have wished they brought along a Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning German. A version of the 90-minute documentary, narrated in German, was shown for several minutes with incomplete subtitles. The film was stopped and movie-goers were given the option to wait for the correct subtitled version to arrive or receive a refund for the movie.
-- Biggest fans: Nancy and Helene Stupsker had tickets to 19 films at this year's festival but missed one Wednesday afternoon because of technical difficulties at Old Town Playhouse. After opting for a refund, they ran to the State Theatre to try for late seating for what they thought was a showing of the sold-out "Religulous." After talking their way into the theater, they discovered "Mongol" was screening instead. Although it was too bloody for their taste, they stayed and watched with their hands over their eyes since volunteers had made a super effort to get them seats. "We couldn't say, 'Never mind,'" Nancy Stupsker said.
Traverse City Film Festival
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