Utter silliness...

(posted 8/5/06)

It's called the Traverse City Film Festival. It's a "charitable and non-profit" organization holding an annual event in Michigan where they show modern and classic movies. This is their second year. A glance at their playlist shows a uniquely diverse selection of films, from the biggest of blockbusters to the smallest of art house flicks. Their motto is, "Just Good Movies," a respectable standpoint if ever there was one.

One of those "Just Good Movies" being shown is a documentary entitled "Jesus Camp." It's about a group of kids being taken to a camp to be trained as members of "God's Army." The film has won several awards and is looking to be a art-house darling when it's released nationally later on this year.

But now, we get to the silly part. Magnolia Films, the company which just picked up the movie for distribution, asked the festival to halt all showings of the film scheduled this weekend.
Why? Because the founder of said festival is none other than Michael Moore. Yes, that Michael Moore. Magnolia Films seems to be of the opinion that even showing the film at a festival affiliated with Moore will cost them viewers in the Bible belt.

No, really.

To quote Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles, "The reality of the world we live in today is that if Michael Moore endorses it, tens of millions will automatically reject it."

Uh-huh.

Apparently, this concern did not occur to the makers of the upcoming mainstream comedy "Borat," which also showed at the festival over the weekend. Or the producers of the family flick "Zathura," whose video sales must have PLUMMETED as soon as word came that Moore had endorsed their film by deciding to show it. Or Steven Spielberg, whose career has now hit a roadblock because they're showing "Jurassic Park." Hell, I firmly believe that Stanley Kubrick, the subject of a festival-long tribute, would be completely shunned by moviegoers now if it wasn't for the slightly inconvenient fact that he's dead.

Hey, Magnolia, I never HEARD of "Jesus Camp" until I learned of it in connection with this festival. And small documentaries appeal to conservative communities almost as much as NRA rallies appeal to liberal ones. So maybe you should take your publicity where you can get it and keep your mouths shut, capisce?