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MARCH 17 - 23, 2014
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Tech upgrades, new sites for 2014 By SCOTT SUTTELL ssuttell@crain.com
MCKINLEY WILEY
Phyllis Harris is executive director of the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland.
Community partners offer extra boost to programming The Cleveland International Film Festival’s community partnership program allows local organizations to support films that address topics related to their missions. For instance, at this month’s festival, the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland is supporting “The New Black,” a documentary about marriage equality and the African-American community. Phyllis Harris, the LGBT organization’s executive director, said the group traditionally supports films from CIFF’s “10% Cinema” sidebar, featuring work of particular interest to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. The organization is using social media and its database or more than 5,000 email addresses to spread the word about “The New Black,” which she said offers a strong message about marriage equality “and that fact that these are basic rights, not special rights.” She’ll have a chance to speak before the film, so the program gives the organization a chance to reach out to all audience members — those already affiliated with the
group and those with no ties. “It’s a great opportunity to expose people to ideas,” Harris said. The program carries similar benefits for the Cleveland chapter of The Links, a volunteer service organization focused on enriching and sustaining the culture of African-Americans. That organization is a community sponsor in support of “Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth,” about the Pulitzer Prize-winning activist-author of “The Color Purple.” Jennifer Coleman, a member of The Links’ Cleveland chapter and its past president, said she has been attending the CIFF for more than 20 years and always finds “wonderful, diverse programming.” Movies are both a great setting for discussion of meaty topics and for casual conversation among friends. Last year, Coleman said, the organization supported a documentary about Anita Hill, who came to Cleveland and ultimately took part in a small reception after the film at the Renaissance Hotel. “That was a pretty memorable discussion,” she said. — Scott Suttell
Marcie Goodman knows the time is coming when the Cleveland International Film Festival, which has seen attendance rise 165%, to 93,235 in 2013 from 35,173 in 2003, no longer keeps drawing ever-larger crowds. And she’s fine with that. “Growth is expensive,” says Goodman, the film festival’s executive director. “We love seeing more people come to (the festival) every year. But we know that it’s not always going to keep climbing, and that’s OK. That’s not the only measure of a successful event.” Indeed, Goodman says, “If everyone who comes (to the film festival) has a great experience, then we were successful.” She and the fulltime film festival staff, including associate director Patrick Shepherd, have been working 90-hour weeks since Jan. 2 to fine-tune that experience for visitors this year and beyond. “We already have a list of what we can do better in 2015,” Shepherd says. For 2014, though, a big change already is in place that should enhance the experience of filmgoers — and bolster the film festival’s bottom line going forward. The festival has converted nine theaters at Tower City Cinemas to digital projection, an undertaking made possible by a $500,000 loan from the George Gund Foundation. The project also includes new sound systems and screens, further optimizing the viewing experience. CIFF owns the equipment, which is housed at Tower City Cinemas on a year-round basis. Tower City Cin-
‘Augmented reality’ adds twist to traditional film guide A less-grandiose technological upgrade this year, but one that’s fun and a little whimsical for the smart phone generation, involves an old-fashioned film festival staple: the printed program guide. The guide this year makes use of “augmented reality,” a technology that enables mobile devices to recognize live objects and then activate video or graphics. The Wall Street Journal reported in March that marketers, print publishers and retailers increasingly are using augmented reality to “test new ways to promote their brands on ever-present mobile devices.” For the Cleveland film festival, digitally curious users can download an app called Layar, point their smart phones at the festival proemas pays CIFF a rental fee to use the equipment for the 353 days of the year it’s not used by the festival. Tower City Cinemas, which is run by Cleveland Cinemas, has 11 theaters, 10 of which the film festival uses each year. (One already had been converted.) It’s an expensive undertaking, Goodman said, but it’s a necessary one, as the digital revolution in the film world makes it impossible to program a large film festival such as Cleveland’s without the latest technology. Without the Gund loan, the festival would have had to rent digital equipment, Goodman said. The festival expects to be able to cover the cost of the loan in two festival years. Deena Epstein, senior program
gram guide and then watch video and graphics unfurl on top of the objects on screen. (And make sure the sound is up on your phone, too; there’s a fun song that goes with the presentation.) On your phone’s home screen, you can put the Layar app next to the film festival’s own app, which offers news updates on CIFF, descriptions of all films, the full film schedule, a customizable “my schedule” feature, and a daily blog. — Scott Suttell officer at the Gund Foundation, which has been a financial supporter of the film festival since the 1980s, said foundation officials meet periodically with CIFF staff members to discuss ways to strengthen the event. When the prospect of a loan to cover the digital conversion was raised, Epstein said, “It seemed like such a logical fit, both financially and for programming.”
But wait, there’s more Out of the realm of technology, the festival aims to improve the viewer experience this year by offering more neighborhood screenings than ever before. Besides reSee NEW, Page 19
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