Author
|
Post |
|
|
Ryan Eashoo
F L I N T O I D
|
|
Fri Jun 29, 2007 9:47 am |
|
|
Tegan
F L I N T O I D
|
I'm not saying its not good. I'm really not. it's great. super, even.
because Traverse City is certainly struggling when it comes to preservation and tourism....
and Michael Moore's ties to TC go way way back...
sorry, that was sarcastic...
let's see some actual preservation in Flint
and let's praise the people who do it
even if they aren't super rich celebrities
but really, good for him. I like that theater a lot,
but they better keep the sign. |
|
|
Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:02 am |
|
|
Steve Myers
Site Admin
|
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore plans to glam up a theater in Traverse City, Mich.
"We're going to restore this magnificent building to its old glory," Moore told a crowd on May 30, according to the Associated Press.
The Flint-born director's film festival, which he launched two years ago, acquired the State Theatre on May 26. It plans to turn the building, which opened in 1949 and showed its last film in 1996, into a state-of-the-art movie house with one of the largest screens in the country.
"As a kid, I grew up going to the theater until it was closed," says John Robert Williams, film festival board member. "It's a slice in time from my youth. We don't want to change it. It's in phenomenal shape."
The film festival leased the State Theater last year from Rotary Charities of Traverse City, which acquired the building in 2006. It has essentially donated the building to the film festival.
"We started asking Rotary Charities if we could borrow or rent the State Theatre because it was a crime to be showing movies in Traverse City and not do it in the State Theatre," Williams says. "[Previous owners] were going to rip it up and turn it into a performing arts center. It was a plan to fail."
The roof needs repairs, and the festival plans to install a sprinkler system later this year. In the meantime, it has been spiffing up the theater, installing a custom-made screen that measures 46 feet wide.
"Mike [Moore] has had lunch with George Lucas, and George is going to be supplying, free of charge, a THX sound system and a standard Dolby sound system," Williams says. "We've got all the connections. It's going to be the place to see a movie."
The Traverse City Film Festival runs from July 31 to Aug. 5.
http://www.nationaltrust.org/Magazine/archives/arc_news_2007/062107.htm |
_________________ Steve Myers |
|
Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:30 am |
|
|
|