After almost two decades, the annual Traverse City Film Festival will be no more. Filmmaker and cofounder Michael Moore made the announcement in an email May 2.
“We’ve decided, after much heartfelt discussion, that it’s best to close this era of the film fest now while we’re ahead, no longer in debt, and go out on top with many years of fond memories,” Moore wrote, saying that the festival board voted unanimously to cease holding the popular summer event.
The week-long Traverse City Film Festival was originally launched as the organization rebuilt the 107-year-old State Theatre downtown and helped fund restoration. The organization has also since saved a historic 1934 building adjacent to the former zoo and reopened it as the Bijou by the Bay, though the actual festival itself was held in multiple additional venues around town. Over the years, directors, actors, and other celebrities attended including Larry Charles, Christine Lahti, Madonna, Lily Tomlin, and Susan Sarandon. The Traverse City Film Festival made a scaled-back return in 2022 after going dark for two years and actually broke even, Moore said, after years of running in the red.
Trevor Tkach, president and CEO of Traverse City Tourism and president of the Michigan Association of CVBs, says that while he’s not aware of specific numbers when it comes to describing the economic impact of the Traverse City Film Festival on the community, there’s no question it has been significant.
“It’s going to have a negative effect on a lot of the travel industry—not just hotel bookings and short-term rental bookings, but restaurant reservations and spending, and retail shopping,” says Tkach. “I can say with confidence that having looked at the history on hotel bookings for that week, the festival definitely helped keep the demand strong. It was a manageable audience that was utilizing indoor space, spending a lot of time in the movies and restaurants and shops and spending a lot of money. It was a nice, sustainable piece of business.”
In a way, he adds, the Traverse City Film Festival became part of the city’s brand, garnering national and international exposure via the movies presented, filmmakers and others who attended, and news it generated. “The Traverse City Film Festival spoke for itself, it had grown in popularity and awareness to a point where it was just a recognized event,” Tkach says. “It was high caliber—a highly regarded part of our brand and regardless of any additional promotion Traverse City Tourism did or anything else, the reality is … it had clout. It had cache. It had appeal that drew attention … It’s really hard to lose an iconic signature event like the Traverse City Film Festival, especially in a year when we’re still trying to reestablish ourselves.”
The news was too fresh to say if it’s possible others in the community might step in and try to come up with a comparable replacement, Tkach adds, saying, “I think this caught a lot of people off guard. There are always great ideas floating around Traverse City and I’m confident the creative entrepreneurial spirit of Traverse City will win yet again in one way, shape, or form. I do believe we’ll see the celebration of cinema in some way moving forward.”
Meanwhile, Moore described the decision to shut down the week-long festival as “the end of an era and the beginning of a new mission.” Both the State Theatre and Bijou by the Bay will continue offering films with a goal to operate 365 days a year. Mostly staffed by volunteers who work concessions, ticket booths, and as ushers, the festival also offers special free movies for kids, some live telecasts, and other special events.
