TRAVERSE CITY (WWJ) - After nearly 20 years, the Traverse City Film Festival has finally come to a close.
Festival founder and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore announced the decision on Tuesday night in an email to supporters of the festival.
Moore wrote that the 2022 run was "one of our best festivals ever," but the TCFF board -- which include actors Jeff Daniels and Terry George, acclaimed filmmaker Mark Cousins, musician Tom Morello and Emmy and Oscar Award-winning actress Christine Lahti among others -- all voted to end the annual event.
Downtown Traverse City with a view on the State TheaterWWJ
"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 that we will all collectively cherish for the rest of our lives," Moore wrote.
In the email, Moore said that the TCFF will continue to support two theaters used during the festival in the past, the State Theater and Bijou by the Bay.
"We will redouble our efforts and focus our attention on building back a post-pandemic audience and continue to provide great movies at these beautiful venues 365 days a year — creating, in essence, a permanent 'year-round TCFF,'" Moore added.
The Traverse City Film Festival was founded in 2005 and ran every year in late July to early August, pulling in films and filmmakers from around the world.
The only time the festival did not run was in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the state granted the TFCC $1 million to kickstart the event in effort to help entertainment businesses after the pandemic.
According to the event's website, the festival was a charitable, educational, nonprofit organization committed "to helping save one of America's few indigenous art forms — the cinema."
Free panel discussions with directors, writers, actors, and other members of the film industry were offered every day while a film school ran through the length of the event, offering two classes a day for film students and film lovers.
