Join special guest(s) and Michael Moore as we discuss the future of film in the age of streaming.

After a week of inspiring and infuriating films, we confront the question, "Can Cinema Save the World?"

Every year we gather some of our visiting documentary filmmakers to share their stories from out in the field.

November 2020 looms before us, and we'll discuss the role film can play in the discourse surrounding and outcome of the 2020 election.

Join us for an afternoon with our most entertaining filmmakers and guests wisecracking about their films, their careers, and the funny business of comedy. Hosted by Doug Benson.

Our annual, free-for-the-community Closing Night Bash takes place t the Open Space on Sunday night, right before the closing night screening of Mary Poppins Returns (page 13). Let's go fly a kite with our family, float up like a balloon with fun, and trip the light fantastic as we skip though our own version of 17 Cherry Tree Lane right in our own downtown bayfront. As the sun goes down, we'll have fun and games, bouncy houses, giveaways, and a special photo booth to enjoy with friends. It will be practically perfect, in every way.

If you think you know the Filmmaker Party, think again. With a brand spanking new party location we're also bringing a brand new vibe—something along the lines of a neon space cowboy bonanza complete with fun touches like a mechanical bull and cotton candy. Plus all the great cocktails, mouthwatering snacks, bopping live music, and the phenomenal company of fellow festival attendees and visiting filmmakers that you've come to know and love. Plus, you'll be on hand for our Awards Ceremony as the festival honors the marvelously talented group of filmmakers that make up the class of TCFF 2019.

Our annual Founders Party is a celebration for our sponsors, a group who make the Traverse City Film Festival so uniquely spectacular. At the Open Space overlooking Grand Traverse Bay, our donors enjoy breathtaking views of beautiful Northern Michigan and partake in a tasty brunch complete with all the Sunday Funday essentials like mimosas and bloody marys. We will then travel to the State to watch a sneak of one of the very best films from the festival this year. Not a sponsor? It’s not too late! Our sponsors support the festival in a big way, while also enjoying benefits like early ticket purchase and priority entry.

Celebrate the start of the best week of the summer when we shut down Front Street for our Opening Night Party! Join filmmakers and film lovers for live music, dancing, and food from our renowned local restaurants. A lively celebration beneath the twinkling lights of the State Theatre marquee, the atmosphere is nothing short of electric. NEW this year: visit the Base Tent for arcade games, bocce, cornhole and carb-heavy, salty snacks, which will come in handy as your all-access party pass also includes favorite local beers, wine, and specialty mixed drinks. The irresistible combination of Northern Michigan’s small-town charm and the glamour of Hollywood makes for an unforgettable event!

Get ready to have your heart stolen by this sun-baked and achingly felt southern adventure that is as captivating as the scenic river deltas and rural woods that make up its evocative setting. This true American odyssey begins when Zak, a young man with Down syndrome, escapes from the nursing home he’s grown up in to pursue his dream of attending the wrestling camp of his hero, The Salt Water Redneck. When his path crosses with Tyler, an outlaw haunted by his own past, an unlikely but unbreakable partnership is formed, and they set out—like a modern-day Huck Finn. This sweet yet offbeat buddy caper from the people who brought you Little Miss Sunshine is a gem in and of itself, but add to it the outstanding performances by newcomer Zak Gottsagen (the inspiration for the movie after the filmmakers met him at a drama camp), the incomparable Shia LaBeouf (in seriously one of his best performances ever), as well as the high profile turns by Dakota Johnson, John Hawkes, Bruce Dern, an

Sometimes the largest cities are also the most difficult places to make genuine human connections, and this is especially true in Mumbai, where class divisions seemingly dictate everything. Enter Rafi, a poor street photographer whose chance meeting with the lonely, curious Miloni comes at the perfect time. For the sake of an impending visit from his frail grandmother, Rafi asks Miloni to pretend they’re in a relationship. She agrees to play along, intrigued for the opportunity to escape her own sense of isolation. But will this coupling remain a temporary ruse, or evolve into something more? Writer/director Ritesh Batra, whose film The Lunchbox was a 2014 TCFF favorite, returns to the festival with this beautiful, patient look at how love and connection can bloom in the most unexpected of situations, and bridge the space between us.

Like the pictographs in Lascaux, strange symbols populate our phone screens, transmitting mysterious messages from both strangers and loved ones. Sure, we all know what they mean, but do you ever wonder where they came from, or who designs them, chooses them, and why they’re even in our phones in the first place? Turns out the process of birthing a new emoji is more interesting than you thought (if you ever thought about it at all). Anyone can suggest a new emoji, but you have to lobby for your design in front of a shadowy cabal of multinational corporations and organizations, and only a select few are chosen each year. This delightfully entertaining film follows several new designs and the people who propose them (including a young woman fighting for an emoji depicting a person wearing a hijab and one group's quest to have menstruation representation), all while demonstrating the remarkable ways emojis are changing culture and language, and filling in the story of the designer who inv

Perhaps the most provocative film we’ve shown in our 15 years, Planet of the Humans dares to say what no one will—that we are losing the battle to stop climate change because we are following leaders who have taken us down the wrong road—selling out the green movement to wealthy interests and corporate America. This film is the wake-up call to the reality we are afraid to face: that in the midst of a human-caused extinction event, the so-called “environmental movement’s” answer is to push for techno-fixes and band-aids. It's too little, too late. Removed from the debate is the only thing that MIGHT save us: getting a grip on our out-of-control human presence and consumption. Why is this not THE issue? Because that would be bad for profits, bad for business. Have we environmentalists fallen for illusions, “green” illusions, that are anything but green, because we’re scared that this is the end—and we’ve pinned all our hopes on solar panels and wind turbines? No amount of batteri

A construction crew discovers three murder victims that have long been hidden behind a false wall in a seemingly abandoned apartment. The cold case is taken up by detective Carl Morck and his soon-to-be ex partner Assad, whose recent promotion to another department is a sore subject for the steely veteran cop. The investigation leads them to a now defunct institution for “troubled girls" and as the horrors of the past are revealed and the detectives push to find the truth, they uncover a monstrous doctor still practicing in ways that hit far too close to home for Assad. The final installment of the Department Q series, which has previously entralled TCFF audiences and produced the highest grossing Danish films ever (with this one surpassing them all), it’s a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller that checks all the boxes for fans of gritty mysteries.