Young Filmmakers Inspired by Film Festival

The Fifth Annual Traverse City Film Festival wrapped up early last month downstate but its influence is continuing on in the minds of the many young, aspiring filmmakers from Michigan who attended. Youth from the Traverse City area, as well as other areas of the state, are attending the festival each year to have fun, watch films, and become inspired to make their own types of films.

The festival was founded by Michigan filmmaker Michael Moore and a group of friends five years ago. It has quickly expanded and this year organizers are boasting of having 96,000 admissions––up from 80,000 last year. The motto for the festival is “Just great Movies.” It is billed as more of a viewing festival than a distribution festival such as Sundance or Cannes. It also appears to be creating a bit of a filmmaking renaissance, at least among young people, in the Traverse City area.

Katerina Gawronski, sixteen, of Clarkston, assisted with the painting of the cells in the animation short (Cuddle Monster) that was screened during a festival feature called Shorts by Students. Gawronski said she and other young filmmakers picked up things during the festival that they wouldn’t be able to learn elsewhere.

“The festival is amazing. My favorite things would be the filmmaker panels and the film school,” she said. “The panels are full of really experienced filmmakers who share everything they know so you get a lot of really good information as well as some great inspiration.

The week-long event features daily discussion panels made up of filmmakers who have works at the festival, as well as daily film school sessions on various filmmaking topics. The panels are free and the film school is only three dollars, making it affordable for youth.

Casey Aaron Voss, thirteen, of Traverse City, who is just starting out in filmmaking, agreed that he gained some useful knowledge from attending the festival film school.

“It’s been a great experience. I really enjoyed the documentary workshop,” he said. “I learned a few tips about different things in editing.”

Adin Harmon, sixteen, of Traverse City, who has a longer film ready to submit next year and assisted with some filming for a documentary on the festival’s fifth anniversary, also gained some specific skills during the week.

“I’ve been working on my free-hand filmmaking skills,” he said. “Just keeping the camera steady. I’ve learned about how to shoot crowd shots and how to work with a group of people.

Helping to create this filmmaking renaissance in Traverse City is the Interlochen Arts Academy, a private arts school located south of the city. The school has a filmmaking program that brings in students from all around the nation. There are also several after school media programs in some of the Traverse City Public Schools. Another outlet is a non-profit art center known as The Art Place, on Union Street in Traverse City. The Art Place, which would be missed by all who pass on the street, is located in the basement of a building housing other shops. Area youth are invited there to use film equipment and work on their own, or other’s, projects.

Kayleigh Schneider, seventeen, of Suttons Bay, became interested in filmmaking by her older brother who is also involved. She likes the “energy” of The Art Place.

“It’s just a good space and it has all this energy. You can bounce ideas for movies off other people and see what they think,” she said. “You have a ton of support and they have all the equipment to make movies.”

Clayton Queen, sixteen, of Traverse City, played a major role in creating an animated short called “Fruit” that was shown during the Shorts by Students screening. In the short, which is set inside a refrigerator, a gang of nasty yogurt containers kidnap a pear with an evil plot to make some pear yogurt. Other fruit in the fridge hatch an operation to rescue the pear. He got his start in filmmaking by programs offered at The Art Place.

“There is a nice studio there that I used,” he said. “It’s (Fruit) just a fun little animation. I’ve really enjoyed working on that one.”

Voss said his interest in filmmaking started by using toys most kids own.

“I just did Lego animations. That’s where I started,” he said. It just sort of came to me one day. I just had an idea to do stop motion animation and I just did some experimenting and found that it was really fun.”

Jon Casey, nineteen, of Southfield, is a skater and grew up watching skateboard movies. From watching them he decided he wanted to begin producing them and he started doing so in eighth grade. Now a college sophomore, Casey made a video montage right before the festival started featuring scenery from around the Grand Traverse Bay. While filming, Casey said he had the kind of experience many filmmakers hope come across.

“This one guy snorkeled all the way from the lighthouse in that little river all the way to a little beach and there were these fishermen on the beach and he got caught up in their lines on his way up to shore,” he said. “The first thing he did when he got to shore was ask for a cigarette and uh, he was just really funny.”

Gawronski became interested in filmmaking during an art class at her school.

“One of the requirements (at her school) is you had to take a class in the arts. So I decided to take a film class, and it was amazing. After that I loved it,’ she said.

During the festival, Traverse City filmmaker Rich Brauer, cinematographer of “Escanaba in Da Moonlight” and director of “Mr. Art Critic,” was named the 2009 Michigan Filmmaker of the Year. Brauer feels the festival will go along way toward supporting his art in Michigan.

“I think it’s a fantastic thing. It’s important for this festival to involve people of all ages,” he said. “It’s all about storytelling and that does not have an age preference. There are young kids that have great stories to tell that are stirred in their soul and they need to be able to have a venue to get them out.”

Film Festival videographer Mark Dragovich said kids who come to the festival have a unique experience.

“It’s a way for you to expand what could be your reality. You could be the ones up there on the big screen, so youth really need to be involved in filmmaking. It’s an art that’s desperately needing some youth injected into it,” he said.

Harmon explains his love of the film festival.

“I love the idea because whenever people associate a big city with film, they always stick with Hollywood and stuff,” he said. “But the film festivals that are taking place all over the nation…they’re giving out the idea that it doesn’t matter where you are, film is film, and it can happen anywhere.”

Andrew Ducharme, 10, of Elk Rapids, recommends the festival to other kids.

“This would really help you out and you would see some older and a lot of newer movies,” he said. “It gives you examples and shows you how to do this kind of thing.

While the Michigan film industry has certainly not reached the status of Los Angeles or New York City, the Traverse City Film Festival is doing its part to help cultivate and inspire young filmmakers. Hopefully, the next Steven Spielberg will come from the ranks of youth volunteers or participants at the festival.

Editors Note: This story was written by Chelsea Parrish, 17, Andrew Powell, 17, Hayley Maskus, 16, Lane Whitley, 15 and Tia Platteborze, 13.