Connected to Change and the Future
Inside this year's Cleveland International Film Festival

Last year's Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) asked "how did it change you?" This year's CIFF asks "how can you bring about change?" and encourages us to connect with the issues and each other. The Festival starts tomorrow, Thursday, March 19 and continues through March 29. The Festival takes audience participation to new territory this year with a media center that encourages people to blog about the movies and the experience and presence on the Web at http://www.ClevelandFilm.org, as well as on Facebook YouTube, Twitter and Flickr.

"[The] social media piece is very big," says Associate Director Patrick Shepherd. "We stuck our toe in the water last year with a Facebook page, and now we have a comprehensive social media campaign, our own staff of photographers and videographers who can create content and share it through photo pool or channel on YouTube." There's a lot of interaction to engage grass roots discussion.

“We’re working hard to connect with suggested content,” explains Shepherd. The diverse content of the films lends itself to 62 community partnerships with the likes of the Domestic Violence Center, Heights Community Congress, Passport Project, Czech, Hungarian or Polish-American Cultural Center. CIFF promotes these causes with displayed logos and trailers and makes suggestions on how people can volunteer, make a contribution, and effect change in their own lives and the lives of others. Many of the independent filmmakers whose works are gathered into the realms of this event are made on low budgets but focused vision of peoples and cultures and making a difference in the lives of others. Looking for a purpose in life? You’ll find one at CIFF.

The major themes of the Festival are announced in sidebar film categories that include American Independents, Film is Art, It’s Easy Being Green, Jewish & Israeli Visions, Local Heroes, Pan-African Images, Sports, and Women of the World. The task of choosing these films is a year-round project whereby Artistic Director Bill Guentzler attends festivals around the world and the call to entry gathers around 1200 films. Each film is watched at least three times beforehand.

And once again the ever-popular festival will include a "Local Heroes" section -- a proclaimed "Sidebar series" which narrows the spotlight on the spectacular featured works by local filmmakers at the fest. Owen Lowery's documentary, An Alternative to Slitting Your Wrist, Mike Wendt's WENZ 107.9-FM documentary The End of the World (As We Knew It), Generation Rx by Avon Lake's Kevin Miller and PolyCultures: Food Where We Live by resident Tom Kondilas are among the "Local Heroes" highlights this year.

The CIFF is infused with high decibels of energy and passion brought together by the Executive Director Marcie Goodman, Guentzler, and Shepherd, who together have furthered the popularity of CIFF for eleven years. Until 1991, the Cleveland International Film Festival took place at the Cedar Lee Theater where the original festival was launched in 1970 by Jonathon Foreman. Now in its 33nd year, the Festival takes advantage of its venue at the multi-screened Tower City Cinemas and has grown to the 52,000 tickets sold last year. Attendance has skyrocketed and it has become the local must-go-to-thing.

Today’s high-profile event highlights over 140 features and 170 short subjects starting at 9 am and running until 10 pm with midnight movies on both Friday and Saturday evenings. Choosing the films to watch is made easier by the film categories and daily schedules, which can be found on the Web site or in the program guide that can be picked up all over town including Dollar Bank locations.

The Web page is easy to navigate and highlights films ranging from Blind Loves, a charmingly lyrical Slovak documentary, Turkey, a French movie about a woman who emancipates herself from her family, and a movie about two pre-teens that takes place in Dublin and was produced in Ireland and Sweden. Look again, and the movies change to Mister Cok, Goodbye Solo, and Step Seven. Lightbulb will be shown only once, at 7PM on opening night, but the other films are shown more than once and at varying times, say once in the late morning on a Tuesday and then again on a Saturday evening. Online, films can be encountered in alphabetical order or in their place on the daily schedule.

Competitions, forums, and panels liven up the film-watching experience. To fully embrace the CIFF, one should take the time to read about the films and events surrounding them and choose those in your interest range and those that may challenge you.

Tickets can be purchased on site at The Film Festival Store in the lobby of Tower Cinema studios, by phone at 877-304-3456, or online at http://www.ClevelandFilm.org. Parking is free with a validated ticket. Customer service and hospitality have been revved up at the Ritz. CIFF has paired up with local eateries, bars, and hotels. Pass holders can congregate in the hospitality headquarters where guests can get a snack, pick up information at the guest relations hub, hang out with filmmakers and the media, and blog at the blog house.

Take in some CIFF films and talk about them. Get connected with the issues and then connect with others through social media. How can you affect change?

From Cool Cleveland contributor Claudia J. Taller ctallerwritesATwowway.com.
(:divend:)