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July 25, 2005Coming back to her rootsGenie Aldrich motivated by Moore's politicsBY BECKY KALAJIANSpecial to the Record-Eagle
Today's profile is the first of two articles relating to the Traverse Bay Freedom FilmFest. Tomorrow: The Festival.
TRAVERSE CITY - Since late June, Genie Aldrich has busied herself assembling a film festival and has become the conservative celluloid counterpoint to liberal filmmaker Michael Moore.She's spearheading a nine-movie film festival called the Traverse Bay Freedom FilmFest, billing it as a conservative alternative to run concurrently to Moore's Traverse City Film Festival. It opens Friday and continues through Saturday. A 32-year resident of California, Aldrich, 55, moved to Suttons Bay five years ago after marrying husband, Alan, who vacationed here as a child. She's a financial adviser/stockbroker for Wachovia Securities in Traverse City and is a self-described "citizen, not activist." Aldrich lived and made her fortune in California. But she said her true nature is Midwestern, having grown up as a poverty-stricken coal miner's daughter in Pennsylvania. Her father died in a coal mine accident when she was 16, she said. After that, Aldrich said she became self-reliant, working briefly in an Ohio factory before following a friend to California. She described herself as a self-made woman, saying she turned her life around by drawing on that "Midwestern" work ethic. "I've returned to my roots," she said. "And now I want to protect them." Aldrich is working with friend and Hollywood actress Cheryl Felicia Rhoads and American Film Renaissance in Texas to put on the festival. Rhoads, who summered in Onekama growing up, "knows everybody in Hollywood, so she tapped AFR in Dallas," said Aldrich. The alternative festival is a protest to what Aldrich calls Moore's "extremist outlook on the world." Moore has repeatedly said the festival he and his committee have organized is not political and he is not presenting any of his own movies. Aldrich hopes to show people that Moore's world view is not that of the majority, especially for people in northern Michigan. "(Moore) is consistently and bitterly negative against this country," she said. "Some of the films he is showcasing are anti-big business and anti-military, even though those are the things that have made Mr. Moore a millionaire." Aldrich's interest in Moore's event began after she read about it. She attended a Traverse City Commission meeting at which city officials debated using the Open Space as a venue for his film festival. Aldrich introduced herself and indicated she had a Traverse City address. She said last week the address was a friend's mobile home where she stayed rather than drive home in bad weather or when other things kept her in town. "I'm out of there now," she said. "I'm back at my major home (in Leelanau County)." At the meeting, she urged city officials to table their decision and obtain more input from residents first. "I do want to applaud Mr. Moore," she told the commission. "He obviously has the intention of enlightening the citizens up here, but he doesn't realize ... that this is not podunkin USA and we do not need outsiders coming in here telling us what is good for us and what is not good for us ... and if we do, put it before a vote." City officials approved Moore's request. That spurred Aldrich to action. "I stayed up for three nights," she said. "And then I made a single phone call." The phone call was to a local person she would not name. It was a "pyramid," she said, giving her the backing she needed to get the ball rolling. "People just began piggybacking on it," she said. "Business people are supporting us through checks, goods, services and product, like programs, grounds crew, popcorn and signs." Aldrich won't name local supporters except Knorr Marketing in Traverse City. She has a committee that calls themselves "the heartlanders" meeting weekly and said she has a volunteer base of about 150. "It's a David and Goliath story - the Moore festival is financed by a nonprofit, which is run by him," she said. "Our is a grassroots effort by Traverse City citizens, not a slick machine." One of the women attending a committee meeting last week, Barbara Bachi of Williamsburg, said Aldrich contacted her about helping. Someone gave Aldrich Bachi's name because Bachi helped organize a protest rally when Moore made an appearance at Elk Rapids High School last fall, said Bachi, also a volunteer for the Grand Traverse County Republican Party. "She's a great lady," Bachi said. "She stands up for what she feels and she goes for it." Rhoads, Aldrich's friend of 16 years from California, said she understands her friend's passion. "He was claiming to present a strictly classic film festival, and he's smart, he does have some (classics)," said Rhoads. "But there are several films in there that are certainly not mainstream, that have an extremist point of view. "I know she was upset about that - a kind of wolf in sheep's clothing - and I know that's what drove her." See Related Stories: AFR Freedom FilmFest opens next Friday - July 22, 2005 Conservatives offer alternate film festival - July 7, 2005
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