TRAVERSE CITY -- John and Ruth Buta spent their 51st wedding anniversary at the Traverse City Film Festival, where they had to sit separately at a sold-out screening of "Mike's Surprise."
But the couple got an anniversary gift before the film started, when Ruth Buta's name was drawn for a private "test screening" of festival founder Michael Moore's new film in the next few weeks.
The much-anticipated film, "Capitalism: A Love Story," was the odds-on favorite to be shown at "Mike's Surprise," a popular festival tradition -- and one of dozens of events scheduled for closing night of the fifth annual film festival. Instead Moore gave the audience a sneak preview of a three-minute trailer for the tightly-guarded film -- expected to open nationwide Oct. 2 -- and a full-length showing of the 1991 documentary "Blood in the Face," which he helped scout, research and conduct interviews for.
With 45 minutes to go before the screening of the film, which follows a 1980s Michigan convention of neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members, Cincinnati resident Lisa Dye was about 35th in line for standby tickets.
"I just came on a whim," said Dye, who had been visiting family in Suttons Bay all week but hadn't yet seen a film. "I just saw it in the listing and decided to come. If I don't see this, I hope I get in to see another movie. I checked online, but it seemed like they were all sold out."
The 2009 festival was expected to end with more than 96,000 admissions -- 15,000 more than the last two years, according to Executive Director Deb Lake. Many, like Dye, were visitors from other states.
"I can't believe where people come from," said shuttle bus driver Joe Steffes. "I've had them from Missouri, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois. And they come up here just for this. It's getting to be pretty popular."
Beth Power came from Chicago to attend the festival, where she managed to take in 10 films.
"I'm loving it," said Power, who also has family in the area. "I have an Oscar party every year so I'm kind of a film junkie. But this is my first film festival."
Traverse City friends Becky Fries, Joyce Braithwaite-Brickley and Rene Louchart wore aprons and carried cooking spoons and whisks for the 6 p.m. screening of "Julie and Julia" at the State Theatre, where a red carpet was rolled out.
"This just seemed fun," said Louchart, who also wore a sparkly pin in the shape of the Eiffel Tower in honor of the film's title character, French cuisine advocate Julia Child. "I've taken cooking classes at NMC and, of course, I love to eat."
Although the comedy was the official closing night film, the festival ended with more films at 9 p.m. and a closing night party at the front lawn at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, where the film festival awards were announced.
"It was an amazing lineup, with some of the most inspiring and engaging films we've ever had the pleasure to watch," said Tracy Kurtz, one of three members of the Fiction Jury, which named "The Greatest" and "Mary and Max" as its top winners. "There were so many outstanding films that our deliberations took twice as long this year."
Festival officials billed closing day as "Suggestion Sunday" and encouraged film-goers to submit their suggestions for next year's festival.
John Buta gave the festival high marks for its organization and volunteer system, but said he'd like to see more venues.
"And probably another day would be good," said Buta, who saw 18 films last year compared to 12 this year. "You can really only comfortably do three (films) a day. We tried doing four last year and it was a killer."
Pat DeYoung took in the noon showing of "Mary and Max" before hurrying back to her Front Street store to help with its closing sale.
"I went from nine films the first year to two this year," said DeYoung, who is closing the downtown business to retire. "But next year it'll be 15. Maybe I'll be volunteering and get to see more."
Dye has attended the Sundance Film Festival but said she likes the Traverse City festival better.
"This is much more laid back. It's great," she said. "And it's beautiful here. I wish I could stay forever."
Print this story
E-mail this story
