Life on Earth

It was a good day for the 2007 Traverse City Film Festival. Great weather, great crowds and, from my perspective, all went very smooth. I spent part of the day roasting in almost 100 degree temps on Traverse City’s Front St. while shooting at the opening celebrations, images below, before attending the opening day screening of an amazing film, “Once“.

I’m no movie reviewer, so I’ll simply say it was a brilliantly done film that feeds an audience’s sense for  reality based romance. I’m always amazed to witness the passion that is possible with song writers. Follow the link to hear some of the music from this modern musical: “Once“.

I’m excited for the rest of the week. There are a lot of great people hanging around downtown and lots of movies to see. The Film Festival is a huge volunteer operation and a lot of my images will be directed at them this week. To kick it off, we have Mark Dragovich who is volunteering for the first time this year. I caught him while he was placing the lettering on the State Theater Marquee.

This is volunteer Fred “Tim” Howell also volunteering for the first time this year. He is standing in front of posters of actress/director Christine Lahti who was presented with the 2007 Michigan Filmmaker Award at the Traverse City Film Festival kick off celebrations.

Michael Moore speaking to the crowd of onlookers on Front St. as he kicked off the 2007 festival. Moore, co-founded the film festival with Doug Stanton and John Robert Williams in 2005.

There still are tickets, so follow the chalk on the pavement, or go online at www.traversecityfilmfestival.org.