Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF)

 

The Cleveland International Film Festival will be back. The 39th edition of the festival will be held March 18 -29, 2015, at Tower City Cinemas and select neighborhood screening locations in Cleveland, Ohio.  

 

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MATT SHEPARD IS A FRIEND OF MINE

A personal documentary about 21-year-old college student, Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in 1998 because he was gay, won the Audience Choice Award For Best Film at the 38th Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF).  The film, MATT SHEPARD IS A FRIEND OF MINE, directed by Matthew Shepard’s childhood friend Michele Josue, also won the Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Competition. The film takes you on a journey to learn about Matt Shepard’s charismatic personality, which is documented through family photos, vacation videos, and even his personal diary entries. Some of the film’s most compelling scenes are with Matt’s parents, Judy and Dennis. 

The winners and awards of the the 38th Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF):

Roxanne T. Mueller Audience Choice Award For Best Film
Sponsored by the Callahan Foundation
MATT SHEPARD IS A FRIEND OF MINE, Directed by Michele Josue
$5,000 cash prize 

George Gund III Memorial Central and Eastern Competition
Presented with generous support from the George Gund Foundation
LIFE FEELS GOOD, Directed by Maciej Pieprzyca (Poland)
$10,000 cash prize

Nesnadny + Schwartz Documentary Competition 
Sponsored by Nesnadny + Schwartz
THE SARNOS: A LIFE IN DIRTY MOVIES, Directed by Wiktor Ericsson
$7,500 cash prize

Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Competition 
Presented with generous support from the George Gund Foundation
MATT SHEPARD IS A FRIEND OF MINE, Directed by Michele Josue
$5,000 cash prize

American Independents Competition 
Presented with the generous support of Alan and Marta Glazen
A BIRDER’S GUIDE TO EVERYTHING, Directed by Rob Meyer
$5,000 cash prize 

Local Heroes Competition
Presented with the generous support of Mike and Nicki Cancelliere
THE SAX MAN, Directed by Joe Siebert
$5,000 cash prize

Global Health Competition
THE STARFISH THROWERS, Directed by Jesse Roesler
$5,000 cash prize

Music Movies Competition
THE WINDING STREAM, Directed by Beth Harrington
Presented with the generous support of Jules and Fran Belkin
$5,000 cash prize

ReelWomenDirect Award for Excellence in Directing by a Woman
Presented with the generous support of Deborah Bachman Ratner
Claudia Pinto Emperador (for THE LONGEST DISTANCE)
$7,500 cash prize

Audience Choice Award for Best Short Subject
Sponsored by Howard Hanna
FOOL’S DAY, Directed by Cody Blue Snider
$1,000 Cash Prize

Best Animated Short Award*
Sponsored by Reminger Co., L.P.A
THE NUMBERLYS, Directed by Brandon Oldenburg & William Joyce
$1,000 cash prize

Best Live Action Short Award*
Sponsored by Anne Bloomberg and Alan Gordon Lipson & Judy Harris
FOR THE BIRDS, Directed by Tara Atashgah
$1,000 cash prize

*These award winners will qualify for consideration in the Short Films category of the annual Academy Awards®.

http://youtu.be/qL1vhqsWwyQ

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DOM HEMINGWAY

The 38th Cleveland International Film Festival has selected DOM HEMINGWAY as its Closing Night film on Sunday, March 30, 2014.  DOM HEMINGWAY, directed by Richard Shepard and produced by Jeremy Thomas with Nick O’Hagan as co-producer, stars Jude Law, Richard E. Grant, Demian Bichir, Emilia Clarke, Kerry Condon, Jumayn Hunter, Madalina Ghenea, and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. 

DOM HEMINGWAY is a larger-than-life safecracker with a cocky swagger who is witty, unhinged, and full of piss and vinegar. After twelve years in prison, he sets off with his partner in crime Dickie (Richard E. Grant) looking to collect what he’s owed for keeping his mouth shut and protecting his boss Mr. Fontaine (Demian Bichir). After a near-death experience, Dom tries to re-connect with his estranged daughter (Emilia Clarke), but is soon drawn back into the only world he knows, looking to settle the ultimate debt.

http://youtu.be/0RIfxInncis

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NOT ANOTHER HAPPY ENDING directed by John McKay has been announced as the Opening Night film of the 38th Cleveland International Film Festival, kicking off the festival on on Wednesday, March 19, 2014.  This “gentle, stylish, and quirky romantic comedy” stars Karen Gillan, Stanley Weber, Amy Manson, Iain De Caestecker, Kate Dickie, Freya Mavor, Gary Lewis, and Henry Ian Cusick.  The 38th Cleveland International Film Festival takes place March 19 to March 30, 2014.

NOT ANOTHER HAPPY ENDING tells the story of struggling publisher Thomas Duval (Stanley Weber) who discovers his only successful author, Jane Lockhart (Karen Gillan), has writer’s block; and it is up to him to unblock her or he is finished. With her newfound success, she’s become too happy and she can’t write when she’s happy. The only trouble is, the worse he makes her feel, the more he realizes he is in love with her.

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Toy’s House, which filmed in Northeast Ohio, will get the honorary hometown treatment to open the 37th Cleveland International Film Festival on Wednesday, April 3, 2013.  Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, the film stars Nick Robinson, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Alison Brie and Mary Lynn Rajskub.

The film which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, is described as “a unique coming-of-age story about three teenagers who, in the ultimate act of independence, decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods.”

The 37th Cleveland International Film Festival runs runs April 3-14, 2013

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Think Media Studios said today that their 2011 documentary, KING ME, will screen at this year’s Cleveland International Film Festival. The documentary follows the story of one man’s struggle to elevate himself from his humble roots through a very unlikely game, world championship checkers.

Played by millions across the globe, most see checkers as simply a casual game.  However, there is a competitive world of world-class checkers that features colorful characters, intense competition, and celebrated checkers champions.  KING ME is the true story of a rare talent rising from obscurity and a gritty examination of South African post-apartheid race relations not seen before. The movie’s protagonist, Lubabalo Kondlo, is a South African township resident who faces many obstacles in his quest to become a World Champion. KING ME’s sometimes heart wrenching story is framed within the confines of the competitive checker scene and its slightly off center denizens deliver unforgettable and often hilarious moments.

King Me will have multiple showings during the festival that runs from March 22nd to April 1st.  The 36th annual Cleveland International Film Festival features more than 100 feature films as well as more than 100 short subject films, from more than 50 countries. Last year’s festival took in nearly 80,000 movie enthusiasts

“We’re excited to be a part of the Cleveland International Film Festival,” said Think Producer and KING ME’s Director, Geoff Yaw.  “King Me’s story takes place all over the globe from Africa to the Caribbean, and then ends up right here in Northeast Ohio. It was important to us to show the movie right here at home in Cleveland.”

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NESTING, directed by Cleveland native John Chuldenko, and starring Todd Grinnell and Ali Hillis, will open the 2012 Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) on Thursday, March 22nd. Nesting is the story of what happens when a thirty-something couple set aside the home furnishings catalogue and decide to rekindle their relationship when they return to their old neighborhood and end up squatting illegally in their twenty-something lives.

The 36th Cleveland International Film Festival opens on Thursday, March 22 and runs through Sunday, April 1, 2012.

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