Chill in Traverse City with Michael Moore this weekend

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By Marta Hepler Drahos / Traverse City Record-Eagle


TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Marilyn Clark and Nancy Wells perused the brochures at the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau for sightseeing ideas.

The friends were in town Monday for the Traverse City Film Festival and said they plan to stay for the whole week in a rented condo with Wells' husband, Ken, and another friend.

"We love indie films, foreign films," said Wells, of Beverly Shores, Ind., who plans to cram in about three movies a day.

The sixth annual festival kicks off today with two opening films instead of one, "Twister" at dusk at the Open Space, and an elaborate downtown street party.

The Michigan Filmmaker of the Year award will be dedicated posthumously to director, producer and writer John Hughes before screenings of the 6:30 and 7 p.m. films at the City Opera House and the State Theatre, said Festival Executive Director Deb Lake.

Hughes lived in suburban Detroit until his teens and scripted some of the most successful films of the 1980s and early 1990s, including "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "The Breakfast Club," "101 Dalmatians" and the "Home Alone" series. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-in-the-news/thousands-expected-attend-film-festival