Volunteer Manager Open House: Monday, June 9

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Grand Opening of the Bijou by the BayThe Traverse City Film Festival is seeking Volunteer Managers for the 2014 festival!

If you have some extra time to dedicate during the week of the festival and you’d like to take on a leadership role, please join us at our Volunteer Management Open House on Monday, June 9 from 5:30 – 7:00 pm in festival office, 232 E. Front St, Traverse City, MI (directly across from the State Theatre). We would love to meet you! And we’ll even have all the popcorn and treats you can eat!

The Open House is specifically for people who would like to take on an assistant manager position and who have 4-6 hours a day to devote during the film festival; it is not necessary for those of you who are willing to work 2-3 shifts during film festival this year.

Can’t make it next week? Mark your calendars for the second Volunteer Manager Open House on Thursday, June 19 from 5:30 to 7:00 pm, also in the festival office.

For more information call 231-392-1134 or email volunteer@traversecityfilmfest.org.

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Vote Now! Open Space People’s Choice

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Special 10th Anniversary Edition!

TCFF Closing Night Bash 2013The Traverse City Film Festival’s annual People’s Choice Night returns to Open Space Park on the Bay this summer in the free movie series offered nightly at our magical outdoor movie theater under the stars.

This year’s Open Space line-up will bring back the most popular Open Space films of 2005-2013 for you to experience again (or for the first time) — and YOU get to choose the film that shows on Friday night from a list of all-time favorite Open Space titles!  This year’s choices include “Jurassic Park,” “The Goonies,” “Raising Arizona,” “Back to the Future,” and “Twister.”

VOTING HAS NOW ENDED – STAY TUNED FOR THE RESULTS

The winning film will be shown on our giant 65-foot inflatable screen set against the beautiful Traverse City bayfront and will be a highlight of our Best of Open Space 10th Anniversary line-up.

The People’s Choice movie, along with all Open Space films to be shown at this year’s festival, will be announced later this June. Open Space Park, on the corner of Union St. and Grandview Parkway, is one of Traverse City’s most beautiful and versatile public gathering spaces, an ideal venue to enjoy a outdoor movie as well as the very best summertime fun northern Michigan has to offer.

Join the TCFF10 Photography Team

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Lights, Camera, Action!

7693068188_5bfd7c8ce1_bThe film festival is looking for a few experienced photographers to help us capture the people and happenings at this year’s 10th annual event. With more venues, movies, filmmakers and movie goers than ever before, we’re looking for photogs who have 10 or more hours to give during the film festival, people who love to capture excitement and drama, to join our great all-volunteer team. An orientation session will be held on June 22 at 11 am at the Bijou by the Bay for those who might be interested, or you can email photography@tcff.org for more information.

Help Coordinate the Heart of the Festival: Our Amazing Volunteers

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The Traverse City Film Festival is seeking a volunteer coordinator to help us manage the 100s of incredible volunteers who come together each summer to create a six-day community-wide celebration of “just great movies” in the most beautiful place on earth.  In this volunteer position,  you’ll work closely with what is simply the very best team around and get to know the amazing volunteers from around the area and around the world who make this all possible.

Duties Include:

  • Sending out mass communications to volunteers regarding upcoming events and shift signup/availability
  • Responding to volunteer email inquiries with the assistance of an office intern
  • Helping fill assistant manager shifts festival wide by coordinating with people who respond to our ads/notices/open houses and matching them up with venues and other festival areas
  • Finding volunteers with special skills needed for various festival positions
  • Keeping an eye on how shifts are filling up and helping devise strategies for filling holes in the schedule
  • Working credentialing and encouraging people to signup for more shifts
  • During the festival, serving as our volunteer “command center” — stay in communication with venue managers and fill holes with “floater” volunteers where needed
  • Helping plan an exciting volunteer party and devising ways to thank and recognize our volunteers for their outstanding contributions.

You can learn more about the critical and rewarding role volunteer managers play within the festival and other leadership opportunities here.

If responsibility, organization,  great social skills, fantastic communication, a sense of adventure, a commitment to your community, a passion for cinema, and having fun are your middle names, we would love to chat with you about serving as our volunteer coordinator for this exciting milestone year.

By helping us create a meaningful event for the community, we can promise you a truly unforgettable experience.

If you have time available this summer in advance of the festival and are interested in the volunteer coordinator position, please email us at volunteer@traversecityfilmfest.org or call us at 231-392-1134.

Thank You Volunteers!

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Dear Volunteers,

volunteers1

The reviews are in — everyone agrees that TCFF9 was a complete success, and for that the credit goes to you, our amazing volunteer family, over 1,500 strong. Thanks to you and the 20,000+ hours you donated to TCFF this year, 119,000 people experienced great movies at 10 different venues and 188 screenings. You sold over 7,400 popcorns and 12,000 drinks (not including Open Space!), shared the beauty of Traverse City with over 90 filmmakers from all over the world, and even opened a brand new theater, the Bijou by the Bay!

We’ve received nothing but wonderful reports from patrons and filmmakers alike about volunteers going above and beyond the call of duty. From sharing local know-how, to volunteering into the wee hours of the morning when help was needed, to taking tickets with a smile, you are the magic component that has given our festival its worldwide reputation, leading one of our visiting filmmakers to ask, is Traverse City is the best film festival ever? One thing is for sure — TCFF volunteers are the best in the world. Thank you!

It was great seeing everyone at the Volunteer Party, and we hope you have been able to get some well-deserved rest since then. If you are going through post-festival withdrawal and want to dive back into the festival, or if your volunteering kept you from seeing some of the great things our patrons experienced, be sure to watch this montage put together by Morgan Burke-Beyers, Andy McFarlane, and our videography team; watch the intro animations by Lars Kelto based on the TCFF9 creative campaign by Gabriel Augustine; or view photos by Michael Poehlman, Gary Howe, and the rest of our volunteer photographers. You may even spot yourself!

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve your volunteering experience, we would love it if you would take a few minutes to complete this survey, or just hit reply and share your thoughts with us. We value your feedback and want to hear from you!

Thank you again for your commitment, hard work, smiling faces, good humor and willingness to do whatever task needs to be done. We are beyond grateful for the generous way you give to the festival and our community. Cheers to you all!

Sincerely,
Deb Lake

TCFF9 Bumper Contest Winners

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The Traverse City Film Festival and sustaining sponsor FIM Group  proudly announce the winners of the 2013 Bumper Contest. In case you didn’t get a chance to catch them before the screenings this past week, you can watch them all here.

FIRST PLACE:
Paper Cut
John Paul Morris

SECOND PLACE:
TCFF the 9th
Brian Steinberg

THIRD PLACE:
How Many Stars
Nancy Rampson

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Treasure Map
Colin Campbell

Just Great Movies
Matthew Soltysiak

A Happy Place
Dick Evans

Parting Shots from the the 9th annual Traverse City Film Festival

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Here’s a few more shots from our volunteer party and other moments. Be sure to check out all the photos from TCFF 2013 on Flickr!

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9th Traverse City Film Festival Wraps with More Sell Outs, More Movies, More Theaters, More Filmmakers and More Fun Than Ever Before

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119,000 People Experience “Movies That Can Change You”

TRAVERSE CITY, MICH. (August 5, 2013) — After six incredible days of “Just Great Movies,” the ninth annual Traverse City Film Festival has wrapped its biggest and best festival yet, smashing previous records with more admissions, more screenings, more sold out shows and several groundbreaking additions.

Sunday at Film FestivalThe six-day cinema celebration founded, programmed and run by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore welcomed over 119,000 admissions this year, an increase of 28,000 over last year. Festival wide, over 85 percent of available tickets were sold to 188 screenings, of which 123 were sold out!

Across 10 different venues, the festival presented 102 feature films, 52 shorts in seven programs, 10 film school sessions, 10 cinema salon outdoor movie discussions, seven free industry panels, seven parties and a podcast with comedian Doug Benson. TCFF brought 90 filmmakers from four continents to Northern Michigan to accompany their films.

“This year,” said Moore, “we worked harder than ever to provide a fun and affordable festival for everyone, no matter their budget. We want everyone to be able to enjoy just great movies in one of the most beautiful areas of the country.” Read more

Notes from Margaret Schaal a.k.a. ‘First in Line Girl’ on Day One of Ticket Sales

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Margaret Schaal

Margaret Schaal, a.k.a. “First in Line Girl” at the screening of “Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me” | Jane Boursaw Photo

One of the great joys of the Traverse City Film Festival is running into friends I don’t get to see that often during the rest of the year.

When I learned that Margaret Schaal, an old friend from high school, was first in line on Day One of Ticket Sales, we (with guidance from film fest staffer Tia Shuyler) came up with the idea to gather some notes from her film festival experience this year.

Margaret said this was her first year of getting in line early, and Karen Gardner was her “first in line” buddy and kept her company through the night.

They got there in the wee, wee hours of the morning, although we decided not to reveal the exact time, because then it sets the bar higher and higher every year!

But “it was a nice night to camp out,” said Margaret, adding that the woman who was eighth in line this year also had that spot last year.

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TCFF 2013: All our photos!

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Here’s 500+ photos from the 2013 Traverse City Film Festival. We hope you had as much fun as we did and can’t wait to do it all over again next year!

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