The four-day Royal Starr Film Festival kicks off Sept. 11 in Birmingham, while the Detroit Black Film Festival arrives in late September.

Smaller festivals are coming in September to Sault St. Marie, Bay City and Campus Martius in downtown Detroit.

Michigan’s unofficial movie motto? If you seek a pleasant film festival, look about you.

The Mitten State is home to a wide array of annual cinematic gatherings that speak to our deep interest in the art form and our abundance of homegrown talent.

Although Michigan ended the tax incentives program in 2015 that helped it flourish briefly as a Hollywood of the Midwest, regional filmmaking — and the festivals that help promote it — has continued to expand.

The state no longer attracts major studio titles like 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of

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