2006 Traverse City Film Festival Archive

The first Palestinian film to be nominated for an Academy Award (this year's Best Foreign Film category), the story is of two young Palestinian men in the West Bank who make do with the life they live under occupation. Friends since childhood, they find themselves recruited for a suicide bomb strike in Tel Aviv. It is the moment they have been waiting for all their lives. A Palestinian woman discovers their plan for shared martyrdom and pleads with them to reconsider. Will they go through with it? Considered by critics to be one of the best films of 2005. Directed by Hany Abu-Assad. Rated PG-13 (mature thematic material, brief strong language)  More...

Whether you're booking a hotel or buying that special item you saw on an infomercial late at night, when you dial 1-800 … you're most likely talking to someone in India. But just who are these individuals? You will meet them in Ashim Ahluwalia's acclaimed documentary about call center workers in India.  Americanized monikers, schedules that match U.S. time zones, accent elimination classes, and inculcation of American culture are part of the lifestyle for these folks. Meet the people who say to you when you call America Online, "Hello, my name is... John and I'm talking to you from... Peoria." Not Rated  More...

Woody Allen is in top comedic form as he directs and stars in this new romantic comedy with Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman. Johansson is an American journalism student in London who gets a scoop on a big story and begins an affair with an aristocrat (Jackman). Also starring Ian McShane (Deadwood). We are proud to present Scoop before its national release as our special closing night feature of the 2006 Traverse City Film Festival. Ticket price includes movie only. Closing Night Party tickets are available separately. Rated PG-13 (some sexual content)  More...

Winning heaps of accolades upon its release in 1994, this is perhaps the best Italian film of the entire decade. Gianni Amelio's story of the tragic dislocation and chaos of post-Communist Albania is considered among the best of Europe's great art films. Two Italian racketeers decide to take advantage of the chaos in Albania by using govt. money earmarked for economic relief to set up a fake shoe factory. Thing is, they need an Albanian to be in charge. They find an old man, a former political prisoner, to serve as their sham CEO. Then he takes off. Filmed in gorgeous wide-screen Technovision, this film will be one of this festival's favorites. Winner of Best Picture at the European Film Awards. Not Rated  More...

Based on a true story, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio stars Oscar nominees Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern in a 1950s tale of a mother of 10 who defies the odds to keep a roof over her family's heads. With a husband who can't seem to make ends meet, a car that continually breaks down and bills piling up, she enters — and wins — jingle contests popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Directed by Jane Anderson. Rated PG-13 (thematic elements, disturbing images, language)  More...

If you like characters who have absolutely no redeeming social value, then we've got the film for you! And if you like to see movies that take you to places you've never gone, well, you're in luck there, too. Chicago documentary filmmakers Malik Bader and Miles Harrison convince a professional burglar to let them go along with him as he commits his crimes, and to film him in the act. Surprisingly, he agrees. Thus we are given a look at a despicable, profane individual, a thief expert in the art of not getting caught. The cameras follow him over the course of the year as he cases stores, taps phones and commits burglaries. But, by being there at the scene of the crime, and knowing in advance about the burglaries that are about to take place, are not the filmmakers themselves complicit in the act? Are they not also criminals? These and other ethical questions are raised during this harrowing look at how one man gets away with it all. Filmmaker Malik Bader, assuming he is not in custody himself, will be present at the festival. Not Rated  More...

Oscar-nominee Laura Linney and Michigan's own Jeff Daniels star in Noah Baumbach's semi-autobiographical Sundance Film Festival award-winner. No better film about modern-day divorce has been made and, as told from the point of view of the two boys caught in the middle, it is a caustically, bitterly funny Oscar-nominated movie. Meet the Berkman family in 1986 Brooklyn, where the dad is an academic and failed author unwilling to see himself in any light other than a bright one ("Kafka was a predecessor of mine"), and the mother is restless with her dead-end marriage and her own aspirations for a career that may turn out to be bigger than her husband's. In between all this are the two sons who are constantly forced to decide which parent they love more. Note to bickering couples: pray your son doesn't grow up to be a filmmaker. Rated R (strong sexual content, graphic dialogue)  More...

Robert Downey Jr. is a petty thief who skates through life on a shaky cocktail of dog-eared charm and cockeyed optimism. His bad luck takes a turn for the better when he stumbles into an audition for a Hollywood detective movie and gets paired with a tough guy private eye (Val Kilmer) for a screen test. As a thief being an actor impersonating a detective, he encounters an aspiring actress (Michelle Monaghan). The three of them become embroiled in a real-life murder mystery. This is perhaps the smartest and hippest film of 2005. And it never played northern Michigan. Directed by legendary Hollywood screenwriter Shane Black. Rated R (violence, sexuality and nudity)  More...

This is a hilarious spoof of the old 1950s science fiction films where aliens come to earth, up to no good. The film is an affectionate, meticulous recreation of those notoriously cheesy clunkers, drawing on a gaggle of beloved stereotypes to pursue "that rarest of all radioactive elements - atmosphereum." Writer/director Larry Blamire heads up the cast of this very funny movie, which also includes Fay Masterson, Andrew Parks, Brian Howe and Jennifer Blaire. They all face a daunting task: having to be brilliant and terrible in the movie, all at the same time. Rated PG (brief mild language)  More...

Part documentary, all comedy, Pittsburgh follows actor Jeff Goldblum as he leaves behind a $4 million Hollywood offer to go to Pittsburgh and be in a regional theater production of The Music Man. Why would a celeb want to do something just a cut above dinner theater? Love. To get his girlfriend a job, he agrees to join the cast. The director of the theater isn't sure Goldblum can sing and dance, so he makes him audition for the part. Goldblum’s agent is going crazy because it appears that Jeff’s wrecking his career. It's all true, all of this really happened. The tremendous cast playing themselves: Ileana Douglas, Ed Begley Jr., Craig Kilborn, Moby, Alanis Morissette and Conan O’Brien. Directed by Chris Bradley and Kyle LaBrache. Pittsburgh is the opening night movie of the 2006 Traverse City Film Festival. Ticket price includes movie only. Opening Night Party tickets are available separately. Not Rated  More...

Who can resist Paul Reubens' cartoon-come-to-life exuberance in this family-friendly, bona fide cult classic? The now-famous combo of Reubens (actor, writer), director Tim Burton (his first film), and writers Phil Hartman and Michael Varhol offer up a smart, quirky comedy featuring a 98-pound man-child's search for his stolen bicycle. While on his quest, Pee-wee encounters escaped convicts, biker gangs, posthumous truck drivers and even Hollywood studio executives. The blend of visual inventiveness and fractured fairytale makes this film a pop culture must. Rated PG  More...