Michael Moore Unveils "Dangerous Docs," Reuthers Labor Film, at Traverse City

by Anthony Kaufman
July 25, 2011 1:23 AM
0 Comments

Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival kicks off tonight with a screening of the 1958 horror flick, "The Blob," but the fest's true horrors should come from its distinguished documentary section, which is filled with top political docs and hell-raising nonfiction from the recent fest circuit.

For example, Anthony Baxter's Donald doc "You've Been Trumped," Suki Hawley and Mike Galinsky's latest "Battle for Brooklyn," and the Irish doc "The Pipe" all deal with citizens battling a collusion of government and private real estate developers. Moore's fest -- and Moore himself -- is the perfect place for the films to gain traction and raise awareness for the issues they present.

There's also a work-in-progress premiere screening of a new doc about union activists, the Reuthers brothers, called "Brothers on the Line," (screening next Saturday), which I've heard is solid work from a reliable source. I'd never heard of the Reuthers, but apparently, they're legendary figures in the fight for workers' rights. According to reports, “Brothers On the Line” follows the Reuthers from the 1930s, when they fought the auto industry, to later sit-down strikes to the establishment of the UAW.