The first-ever Traverse City Film Festival winners were announced on Sunday, July 31, 2005. Awards were given in eight categories by the festival founders: filmmaker Michael Moore, author Doug Stanton, and photographer John Robert Williams.

The opening and closing night films were not considered for any of the following prizes. The festival founders honored “Mad Hot Ballroom” and “Broken Flowers” by selecting them as the opening and closing night films.

Scariest Film:
“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” (Alex Gibney, director)
Described by L.A. Weekly as “fiercely intelligent, terrifying, and absurdly funny,” Enron tells the sordid, true story of a company run on greed with friends in high places. Alex Gibney’s film features compelling characters, scary villains, and a plot line that will have you laughing one minute and gasping the next.

Preservation Prize (for older films that deserve continued attention):
Tie between…
“Les Miserables” (Claude Lelouch, director)
Lelouch takes this classic Victor Hugo story and transports it to Nazi-occupied France. A Jewish family on the run is picked up by an illiterate ex-boxer named Fortin (played by the great French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo) who searches for the strength to be the hero he never thought he could be.
and
“Italian for Beginners” (Lone Scherfig, writer/director)
Funny, poignant, and bittersweet, the San Francisco Chronicle said this film “makes the heart soar.” Six strangers in Denmark sign up for an Italian class. When the teacher unexpectedly quits, they decide to continue the class and plan their first trip to Italy.

The Stanley Kubrick Prize for Bold and Innovative Filmmaking:
“Tarnation” (Jonathan Caouette, writer/director)
Jonathan Caouette began making this film at age 11, videotaping his harrowing up bringing by a schizophrenic mother. Some 20 years later, he created this brilliant film on his iMac, using his own footage, interviews, audiotapes, and a score without rival.

Best Film by a First-Time Filmmaker:
“The Talent Given Us” (Andrew Wagner, writer/director)
Made for $30,000 with a two-person crew, director Andrew Wagner cast his parents and his siblings in this story about a 70-year old couple from New York’s upper west side who decide to drive to L.A. to see their loner son who’s trying to make it as a filmmaker. Newsday calls it “breathtaking.”

Best Non-Fiction Film:
“Czech Dream” (Vit Klusák and Filip Remunda, writers/directors)
Czech Dream is a hilarious, subversive documentary about two guys who decide to see just how desperate their fellow countrymen are to embrace capitalism. They announce the opening of the “Czech Dream Hypermarket.” Find out what happens when 4,000 compulsive Czech consumers are lured to an empty field.

Best Fiction Film:
“Downfall” (Oliver Hirschbiegel, director)
Bruno Ganz is riveting as Adolf Hitler in this unflinching story of the final days in Hitler’s bunker as told by stenographer Traudi Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara). This Gottërdämmerung of the Third Reich reveals its gods to be self-centered to the point of insanity.

Audience Grand Prize (based on an informal poll of our great audiences):
“The Baxter” (Michael Showalter, writer/director)
Michael Showalter stars as the Baxter, a man who continually loses his girlfriend or fiancé to the fun-loving ex-boyfriend who always seems to show up to sweep her away. With brilliant performances by Justin Theroux and Michelle Williams, this rare comedy for adults deserves to be seen.

Founders Grand Prize:
Tie between…
“The Edukators” (Hans Weingartner, writer/director)
Three twenty-somethings form a clandestine gang. Their mission: break in to the homes of the rich, rearrange their furniture, and leave them a message about their greedy ways. But things go awry as sexual attraction intrudes, and a kidnapped CEO upsets their plans.
and
“Grizzly Man” (Werner Herzog, writer/director)
Timothy Treadwell spent 13 summers living among the grizzly bears of Alaska; then one day a bear ate him. The great German director Werner Herzog took Treadwell’s video tapes, added his own narration, and created what may be the most riveting, crazy, mind-blowing film of the yea