The 39th Cleveland International Film Festival kicks off tonight, Wednesday, March 18, and runs through Sunday, March 30. One of the nation’s best regional film events, the festival takes over the Ohio city with an impressive showcase of nearly 200 feature films and more than 200 shorts. The following offers a brief overview of the event’s feature documentary slate, broken down by the many competitions featured in the fest.
Fifteen feature docs compete in the Nesnadny + Schwartz Documentary Competition, which comes with a cash prize of $7500. Contenders for the prize this year have all been part of the lineups of other festivals covered on this site previously – including Sundance, Slamdance, SXSW, DOC NYC, and Toronto, among others – such as: Matthew Bate’s exploration of four decades of a man’s life, SAM KLEMKE’S TIME MACHINE; Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden’s portrait of an outsider artist and his unexpected past, ALMOST THERE; Jeffrey Schwarz’s revealing biography of a Hollywood heart-throb, TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL (pictured); and Jeremy Royce’s look at an attempt to recapture the past, 20 YEARS OF MADNESS.
The Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Competition celebrates nearly two dozen social justice films, with the winner determined by audience vote and receiving a $5000 cash prize. Select titles include: Siniša Gačić’s A FIGHT FOR, which looks at an Occupy movement in Slovenia; Miquel Galofré’s ART CONNECT, about a program that exposes high school kids in Trinidad and Tobago to the arts; Patricio Henríquez’s UYGHURS, PRISONERS OF THE ABSURD, the story of three Turkish Muslims mistakenly linked to terrorist cells; and John Rowe’s OMO CHILD: THE RIVER AND THE BUSH (pictured), which looks at efforts to stop the superstitious killing of children by an Ethiopian tribe.
Audiences will also determine the $5000 winner of the Global Health Competition, which looks at films about mental, physical, and environmental health. Featured among the dozen documentaries here are: Michael Barnett’s BECOMING BULLETPROOF (pictured), about the making of a Western starring people with disabilities; Tim Grabham and Jasper Sharp’s THE CREEPING GARDEN, an expansive look at slime mold; and the hybrid PLACEBO, Abhay Kumar’s profile of an ultra-competitive New Delhi medical school.
Nine Ohio-made or -focused documentaries vie for a $5000 Local Heroes award, also competing along with several fiction films. Among the nonfiction contenders are: Karina Epperlein’s FINDING THE GOLD WITHIN (pictured), about a support group for young African American men; Nick Cavalier’s FORCED PERSPECTIVE, a portrait of a local artist; and Ted Sikora’s MOVE ON, on a theatre company’s about to move to a new venue.
Finally, audiences have the chance to select the winner of the Music Movies Competition, which also comes with a $5000 cash prize. Among the docs in the running are Jamie Bernstein’s CRESCENDO! THE POWER OF MUSIC (pictured), an exploration of the impact of youth orchestras in Harlem and Philadelphia; and Rob Montague’s LONG WAY TO THE TOP, which follows the experiences of musicians on the road.
what (not) to doc 