Michael Moore today revealed the films selected to screen in the 13th Traverse City Film Festival, taking place July 25 to 30, 2017 in Traverse, Michigan. In addition to announcing new venues, the festival will feature a curiously titled program titled Travel Ban Sidebar, featuring “seven daring and beautiful stories that celebrate our connected world.”

Michael Moore’s letter announcing 2017 Traverse City Film Festival lineup:

Today is the big day, the day we reveal the films of the 13th Annual Traverse City Film Festival, July 25-30, which will bring over 1000 movies to scenic Northern Michigan.

Big change has come to the festival and the world since we last gathered on the beautiful shores of TC to celebrate movies, but there are still some things you can always count on at the TCFF: the volunteers will be friendly, the out-of-town filmmakers will learn that pasties aren’t just for burlesque shows, and we will always show Just Great Movies.

The movies I’ve selected this year are bold, brave, larger-than-life stories that made me laugh, and sometimes cry, but always left me with a sense of hope and wonder. I can’t wait for you to see them.

As you go through this incredible list of movies, please note some of this year’s special happenings:

• Two new (temporary) big screens: Kirkbride Hall at Grand Traverse Commons and the newly renovated auditorium in Central High School–transformed into cinemas by the same technical geniuses who remade the State Theatre, City Opera House, Old Town Playhouse, Con Foster Museum, and our other venerable venues into world-class movie theaters. Check ’em out, they’ll be this year’s hot tickets. (Central Grade School is closed for the summer, but returns next year!)
• The Travel Ban Sidebar, featuring seven daring and beautiful stories that celebrate our connected world.
• The Buzz — free movies and events, all day — will be moving around to different venues this year. Look for the FREE listings in every timeslot.
• Panels are also on the move. No longer stuck at the City Opera House every morning, we’re changing up the times and locations of the free daily panels so that more people can enjoy them.
• Food on Film is Supersized. Enjoy more special screenings featuring candid conversations with chefs and filmmakers and sample bites of food inspired by the films.
• Our most popular offerings return better than ever — The Woz, Kids Fest (now in beautiful Clinch Park), movies for #Tweens, Movies on a Boat, and some midnight frights and delights.
• Movies Around the Bay now goes further around the bay with the addition of the beautiful new Lyric Theatre in Harbor Springs kicking things off. Enjoy a week of movies before the festival begins and help relieve your schedule log jam.
• Great guests! Film lover, critic, and historian extraordinaire Leonard Maltin will be joining us in TC. You’ll see him around the fest as well as recording his Nerdist Podcast, Maltin on Movies. And speaking of movies and podcasts, TC’s adopted son Doug Benson returns bringing new funny friends, and maybe running into another TCFF 2017 funnyman, guest Gilbert Gottfried.
• The 117 feature films and the filmmakers we’re announcing today are just the beginning. Exciting announcements will follow in the coming days.
• And if the hologram system we’ve been testing succeeds, you’ll see me floating above the Open Space on clear, moonless nights.

You can view the entire schedule of movies and events online, or you can download a PDF. Pick up a printed guide at the State Theatre, Bijou by the Bay, and other locations all around town, or in copies of the Record-Eagle later this week.

Tickets go on sale to our Friends of the Film Festival on July 9 and to the general public on July 15. Prices remain the same for the fourth year in a row, and there are dozens of free films and events so that everyone can participate.

Thank you, everyone, for your support. These crazy times call for community, creativity, and a loving approach to defining our future. Let’s celebrate the amazing work coming out of the countries our current president wants to ban, and let’s continue to enjoy “Just Great Movies,” and the incredible filmmakers who create them.

All my best,
Michael Moore

Image via Facebook