Cleveland International Film Festival

The media plays a role in a number of films at this year's Cleveland International Film Festival. One documentary examines a giant of journalism, while one of the shorts takes a look at an issue that has dominated local news.

The 43rd Cleveland International Film Festival starts Wednesday. This year the festival includes the debut of the DReam Catcher award celebrating LGBTQ filmmakers. On this week's State of the Arts WKSU's Mark Arehart talks with the director and Shaker Heights native being honored.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony is perhaps the best known rap group to ever come out of Cleveland. Now, some of its members are channeling their hometown in a new documentary that screened at the Cleveland International Film Festival.

Teenagers throwing pumpkins down a hill, and senior citizens climbing up mountains, are the subjects of two documentaries running at the Cleveland International Film Festival this week. Both films also share Northeast Ohio roots and a personal message lurking behind the action on-screen.

“The pumpkin roll used to be all but a military operation. The dead of night, barns and out buildings would be thrown open.”

There’s a new leadership team at the Nightlight Cinema, and they say they want to hear from the public about what kinds of films they want to see in downtown Akron.

Assistant Director Eugene Weaver has been tapped to be the Nightlight’s new executive director. He’s joined by Brittany Dobish in the new position of artistic director. She says she’s already trying to learn more about what kinds of films Akron audiences want to see.

The Cleveland International Film Festival completed its annual FilmSlam program today with a documentary about Gordon Gund. And as WKSU’s Kabir Bhatia reports, students from area schools even got to ask Gund questions about his life with retinitis pigmentosa.

Last summer’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland may be a distant memory for some people, but a new film profiles those four days in July. WKSU’s Kabir Bhatia reports on “A More Civil War,” premiering tonight at the Capitol Theater as part of the Cleveland International Film Festival.

The Cleveland International Film Festival is helping to launch Kent State’s new Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality with a series of LGBTQ-related films.

The Cleveland International Film Festival comes to Akron today, premiering a film about the passion behind one of the city’s professional sports franchises, and showing a documentary made mostly by Twinsburg High School students. 

“Our No. 1 draftee this year will be paid 350 times less than the No. 1 pick in Major League Baseball’s bonus (draft)," says Cheri Kempf, commissioner of the National Pro Fastpitch League, which is made up of five women’s professional softball teams.

The 41st Cleveland International Film Festival kicks off Wednesday, with hundreds of films from around the world.  For the second year , the film fest will also offer “Perspectives,” a free virtual reality festival running in a storefront at Tower City.  The response last year was so positive, organizers have expanded it from four days to 11.  WKSU’s Kabir Bhatia spoke with the film fest’s Mallory Martin, who curates “Perspectives."

The Cleveland International Film Festival has released this year’s list of films, which includes a number of movies about Northeast Ohio.

Next year’s Cleveland International Film Festival will again be held at downtown’s Tower City Cinemas. There was some concern that the 2017 event would have to be moved elsewhere because the building the theaters are located in has a new owner. Cleveland Casino owner Dan Gilbert’s company recently bought the building, but it’s announced the festival will stay. Joe Marinucci is president of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance.

The 40th Cleveland International Film Festival is adding virtual reality to the mix with a new exhibit opening tomorrow. "Perspectives" is housed in Tower City, away from the movie theaters and instead in an empty storefront.

Visitors will get headsets and unlocked smart phones that can transport them inside some of this year's films. There are also Interactive Media projects, such as "Good Luck Soup," a web-based documentary.

It will probably come as no surprise that one of the biggest hits at the Cleveland International Film Festival this year is a documentary on the pain and anguish that Cleveland sports fans have experienced for decades. WKSU’s Kabir Bhatia takes a look at the new film, “Believeland.”

A documentary premiering tonight at the Cleveland International Film festival tells a story the filmmaker especially wanted his home town to know.

It’s about his Japanese-American family’s experience in Cleveland since World War II, and the racism endured for generations.

WKSU’s Vivian Goodman has a preview in today’s State of the Arts.

The 40th Cleveland International Film Festival opens Wednesday at Tower City, and for the first time it will include virtual reality.

The Film Fest began in 1977 with eight movies. This year, it will host about 200 feature films over 12 days. And in a separate part of Tower City, an empty storefront will become an immersive experience.