Cleveland Int'l Film Festival: "Be Part of the Story"

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 23 March 2011 10:00

Written by Lynne Shannon

The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) runs March 24 - April 3, 2011 at Tower City Cinemas in Tower City Center and other venues in Cleveland, Ohio.

Now in its 35th year, Ohio's premier film event presents a full survey of contemporary international and American Independent filmmaking, with more than 150 features and 130 short subjects from nearly 60 countries.

The Opening Night film is Hamill, directed by Oren Kaplan. This inspirational story follows a born-deaf wrestler Matt "The Hammer" Hamill as he strives to become a wrestling champion, and goes on to be the first deaf wrestler to win a National Collegiate Championship. With Russell Harvard, Raymond Barry, Shoshannah Stern, Michael Anthony Spady.

The Closing Night film is another inspiring true story: Soul Surfer, Sean McNamara's depiction of Bethany Hamilton, the girl who fought to return to surfing after losing an arm in a shark attack at age 13. With AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Carrie Underwood (in her feature film debut).

Two films deal with non-U.S. personnel in Afghanistan:

Route Irish
dir. Ken Loach (UK)
Famed auteur Loach weighs in on the war with this dramatic story of two friends from Liverpool who go to work in Afghanistan for a security contractor. One of them is killed along Route Irish, "the most dangerous highway in the world". Since the death is not as cut and dried as one would think, the surviving friend is determined to discover the true cause of his friend's death. With Mark Womack, Andrea Lowe, John Bishop, Trevor Williams, Stephen Lord.

Armadillo
dir. Janus Metz Pedersen (Denmark)
This documentary accompanies a group of new Danish recruits to the war in Afghanistan from their homes and farewells to their first attack by the Taliban.

Other documentaries include:

Danny Greene: The Rise and Fall of the Irishman
dir. Tommy Reid (US)
This film chronicles the life and death of Danny Greene, Cleveland's own counterpart to Boston's Whitey Bulger. A legendary gangster who "dressed in green, drove green cars, and embraced Irish history and Celtic lore," Greene was a union troubleshooter, embezzler, enforcer, also involved with racketeering, gambling, and loan-sharking. Never convicted, his infamous, headline-making career ended with a car bomb in a parking lot. (This is the man the new feature film Kill the Irishman is about. )

The Pipe
dir. Risteard Ó Domhnaill (Ireland)
Another country heard from in the fight against Big Oil. Rossport, a tiny remote fishing village in West Ireland, has squared off against multi-national oil conglomerate Shell, which had found an undersea natural gas field off the Irish coast. But those opposed to the end of their generations-old way of life have to fight on two fronts: not only Shell, but their own fellow townsmen who think the chance of prosperity might be a good thing.

This Prison Where I Live
dir. Rex Bloomstein (UK/Germany)
Zarganar, a beloved stand-up comedian known for his wicked anti-government satire, is currently serving 35 years for "public order offenses" against the military junta in Burma. Michael Mittermeier, a German comedian who accompanied Bloomstein to visit Zarganar, performs the same political humor in Germany that got the Burmese comedian incarcerated. Says Mittermeier: "He not only tirelessly exposes the cruelty of the military with his humor, but inspires the people to speak for themselves.... As a German comedian I ask myself, what would I have done during the Nazi period? Would I have had the courage to offer mental resistance with my humor?"

Surviving Hitler: A Love Story
dir. John-Keith Wasson (US/Germany)
This is the true story of two teenagers in Berlin who fell in love at the beginning of World War II. Jutta was half-Jewish, and Helmuth was a soldier. Together they were not only members of German resistance groups, but were also involved with Operation Valkyrie. With both personal and historical archival material, the film is a fascinating exploration of the power of love to fuel courage.

A sample of the many unique narrative films:

The Human Resources Manager / Shlichuto Shel HaMemune Al Mashabei Enosh
dir. Eran Riklis (Israel/Germany/France)
The director of The Syrian Bride brings forth a story about an HR manager who, for lack of any other alternatives, winds up transporting the remains of an employee to her Russian hometown.

Cleveland vs. Wall Street
Directed by Jean-Stéphane Bron (Switzerland/France/US)
This film is a What-If story with roots in real life: in 2008 Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson filed a lawsuit against 21 major investment banks, contending that the companies’ irresponsible home loans resulted in widespread defaults, depleting the city’s tax base and leaving neighborhoods in ruins. Wall Street lawyers blocked the suit, of course. Director Bron decided to stage a mock trial, with Cleveland judge and lawyers playing themselves.

Seven Days in Heaven / Fu hou qi ri
dir. Yulin Wang, Eassy Liu (Taiwan)
In this black comedy, an urban intellectual returns home to her father's funeral in a small rural town. As the seven-day mourning vigil begins, "A professional mourner wails and grovels in the dust... After a minute or two, she pops up for a soda break, asking "Who am I crying for again?" With Po Tai, Yulin Wang.

Snap
dir. Carmel Winters (Ireland)
The director's feature debut is an unusual, innovative take on a child abduction and the media frenzy and public outcry it engenders. The story is told with different distances and viewpoints, using a variety of media: CCTV, mobile phone, webcam, documentary cameras, mini DV and Cine 8. With Aisling O’Sullivan, Stephen Moran, Eileen Walsh.

The film tracks are:

• World Tour
• American Independents
• 10% Cinema films – lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender
• Pan-African Images
• Family Films
• Jewish and Israeli Visions
• Pacific Pearls  – Asia and Pacific Islands Films
• Women of the World – films about or directed by women
• It's Easy Being Green – films dealing with environmental issues
• Film is Art
• Local Heroes – spotlighting works by local filmmakers
• Cinema En Español

Other events include:

• FilmForums – post-screening discussions
• Filmmaker Panels – art, craft and business of making films
• Someone To Watch – focus on an early or mid-career filmmaker by screening their latest work with an earlier film
• FilmSlam – a mini-festival of CIFF films for high school students

For more information, visit www.clevelandfilm.org.

Cleveland International Film Festival
March 24 - April 3, 2011

Tower City Cinemas
230 West Huron Road
Cleveland, OH

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