One of the country’s best-regarded regional film events, the Cleveland International Film Festival, opens next Wednesday, April 3 and runs through Sunday, April 14. I’ve only attended CIFF once, and was impressed by the dedication of its audience, who eschew parties to cram as many films as possible into their schedules. Showing remarkable audience growth over the past several years, this year’s edition, its 37th, has expanded its programming selections, offering nearly 180 feature length and more than 160 short films. Included among these are more than 70 feature length docs, appearing in various sidebars – from the LGBT-oriented “10% Cinema” to the femme focused “Women of the World” – and part of a number of competitions, highlighted below:
Fifteen films are in the running for the Nesnadny + Schwartz Documentary Film Competition, which comes with a $7500 prize. Among these are a pair of recent SXSW debuts, Ryan White’s GOOD OL’ FREDA, about the Beatles’ secretary and Jeffret Schwarz’s I AM DIVINE, on John Waters’ late, larger-larger-than-life, muse; Jacqui Morris and David Morris’ MCCULLIN, a profile of the acclaimed photojournalist; Amy Finkel’s FUREVER (pictured), a poignant look at the ways people deal with the loss of their pets; Tim Cawley’s FROM NOTHING, SOMETHING, which explores the creative process across a wide range of disciplines; and Bill Morrison’s THE GREAT FLOOD, an experimental exploration of the destruction wrought by the 1927 flodding of the Mississippi.
CIFF’s annual Standing Up Film Competition, named for the late Greg Gund, celebrates films about activism and social justice. This year, the competition splits into two, with one strand focusing on films standing up to something, and another on films standing up for something. Each competition is based on audience ballots, and comes with a $5000 prize. The “For” competition counts 23 titles, including: Michael Grigsby’s WE WENT TO WAR, which follows up with Vietnam vets featured in the director’s 1970 film I WAS A SOLDIER; Richard E Robbins’ GIRL RISING, exploring girls’ stories from around the world and the importance of education for their futures; Peter Getzels and Eduardo López’s HARVEST OF EMPIRE, an investigation into US involvement in Central and Latin American politics and its impact on immigration; Dan Hayes’ HONOR FLIGHT, about a service that pays respect to WWII vets by flying them to Washington DC to see the WWII memorial; and Luke Korem’s LORD MONTAGU (pictured), the story of an iconoclastic English aristocrat who fought against social and class mores.
The Gund Standing Up “To” Competition includes 24 titles, among them Benjamin Greené’s SURVIVAL PRAYER, a portrait of the people of the Haida Gwaii archipelago and their relationship to their land; Peter Young’s THE LAST OCEAN (pictured), about the fight to preserve a body of water that’s been relatively untouched by man; Cecilia Peck’s BRAVE MISS WORLD, which follows the efforts of an Israeli pageant winner to speak out against sexual violence; Kathy Leichter’s HERE ONE DAY, the filmmaker’s filmic ode to her deceased mother, who suffered from bipolar disorder; and Peter Navarro’s DEATH BY CHINA 2.0, a consideration of the costs to America of China’s dominance in manufacturing.
Finally, Ohio-focused films, or films by Ohio filmmakers, vie for the Local Heroes Competition, including eight documentaries. Among these are Travis Mathews and James Franco’s Sundance hybrid, INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR., a speculation about the lost scenes from CRUISING; Joel Allen Schroeder’s DEAR MR WATTERSON (pictured), a love letter to the much-missed comic strip “Calvin & Hobbes;” José Asunción’s SICK MICK AND THE BOYS, following a ne’er-do-well attempting to fulfill his father’s greatest wish; and Jack Storey’s RED, WHITE AND BLUEPRINTS: A RUST BELT DOCUMENTARY, a survey of the resurgence of cities like Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Detroit.
what (not) to doc 