FILM CRITIC LEONARD MALTIN DISCOVERS THE UGLY TRUTH: Entertainment Media Ignores Maltin's Tweet Calling Out Michael Moore For Stiffing & Then Slandering Traverse City Film Festival Vendor Boston Light & Sound

“It will never go to court,” he said. 

“I can’t even imagine that. This is…personal on their end.” Moore said Boston Light & Sound, which was dropped by TCFF for the 2018 festival after a previous thirteen-year partnership, has also been dropped by other film festivals – implying the company wasn’t performing up to industry standards. 

“They didn’t sue until after we dropped them,” Moore said. “They were upset.” Moore said an ongoing internal probe of the festival’s finances made board members concerned that “we may not owe (Boston Light & Sound) anything…they owe us.” He added that “those responsible on their end will regret that they did this,” referring to the company's filing of the lawsuit.

August 4, 2018

Traverse City Ticker

Back in August, during the Traverse City Film Festival, Michael Moore publicly unloaded on a longtime festival vendor, Boston Light & Sound.

Slamming the company in front of a TCFF audience gathered for a Q &A with the director, Moore trashed the company as incompetent, stating he fired them and even claimed they owe him money.

Earlier this year, after Boston Light & Sound filed suit to recover an unpaid bill of $159,000, the company’s Principal of Operations Chapin Cutler told the Ticker “It became apparent the festival had overextended. The festival’s eyes were a bit bigger than their finances could handle, and we were the people left standing, holding an invoice.”

But Moore's outburst against Boston Light & Sound from the stage of the recent Toronto International Film Festival caught the attention of respected film critic and historian Leonard Maltin.

In a video with his daughter/colleague Jessie Maltin, the critic addressed Moore personally. 

“I’m extremely uncomfortable doing something like this,” Maltin wrote. “I have no desire to fight or argue with anyone—but I must stand up for my dear friends at Boston Light and Sound.”

According to Maltin, Moore called the lawsuit a “personal vendetta”.

Maltin begins the video by insisting that he respects and admires the filmmaker, but says that he “can’t sit by silently” as he “slanders dear friends of ours, Deborah and Chapin Cutler, and their company Boston Light & Sound.”