"As soon as we are out of debt, beat the virus, and get the river out of the basement, we will open."
"What Is The State Of The State, Film Fest?" The Ticker; April 12, 2021
Michael Moore is verging dangerously close to self-parody, as the Oscar-winning Michigan native and founder of the Traverse City Film Festival rattles the tin cup on behalf of the financially floundering festival he founded in 2005.
Back in August 2018, Moore publicly addressed the TCFF's financial mess, and the departure of Deb Lake as festival director in December 2017.
During the meeting, Moore asserted that “at the end of 2018, we’re going to begin issuing annual reports. We’re going to actually publish on the website not only the 990s (nonprofit IRS statements), but also the quarterly financial statements. You’ll be able to look at what the bank has, and what we have, and you’ll be able to see everything. That’s the way it’s going to be from now on.”
Moore
also claimed the festival had ordered a forensic audit of its finances for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2018. (A true forensic audit, and not just an audit of financial statements, can cost upwards of $30,000.)
But, with the exception of its 2017 nonprofit IRS Form 990, the TCFF has failed to provide the financial disclosures Moore promised nearly three years ago.
But never mind Moore's unsupported assertion that Festival's debt has ballooned and its