CIFF Ex Dir Marcie Goodman Wins Robert Bergman Prize

From cleveland.com:

Winners of 2011 Cleveland Arts Prize announced

Published: Thursday, April 28, 2011, 12:56 PM     Updated: Tuesday, May 03, 2011, 10:36 AM

 By Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer 

Peggy Turbett, The Plain DealerJohn Paul Miller

John Paul Miller won the first Cleveland Arts Prize for the visual arts in 1961. Half a century later, the celebrated 93-year-old Cleveland goldsmith is the special honoree of the 2011 Cleveland Arts Prize.

Winners of the arts prize, announced Thursday, will be honored at the 51st annual awards event on Tuesday, June 28, in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

This year's Mid-Career awards were won by Paula McLain (literature), Robert Maschke (design), Yolanda Kondonassis (music and dance) and Barry Underwood (visual arts).

Marcie Goodman, executive director of the Cleveland International Film Festival, is winner of the Robert Bergman Prize, named for the late director of the Cleveland museum.

COMING UP

Cleveland Arts Prize
What: The 2011 winners will be honored during the 51st annual awards event.
When: 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 28.
Where: Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Blvd., Cleveland.
Tickets (available starting Sunday):$200, patrons ($160 tax-deductible, includes two receptions); $100, donors ($60 tax-deductible, includes two re ceptions); and $50, general ($40 tax-deductible, includes dessert reception). Go to clevelandartsprize.org.
Information: Call executive director Marcie Bergman at 216-321-7278 or email marciebergman@gmail.com.

A. Grace Lee Mims, admired for 35 years as host and producer of "The Black Arts" radio program on WCLV 104.9/FM; Natalie Epstein, longtime supporter of theater programs at Case Western Reserve University; Tom Hinson, recently retired associate curator of modern and contemporary art at the Cleveland Museum of Art; and Marsha Dobrzynski, executive director of Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio, have been named Martha Joseph Prize winners.

The Emerging Artist award goes to Michael Oatman, only the second playright-in-residence in the 100-year history of Karamu House. (The first was Langston Hughes.)

Winners of Lifetime Achievement Awards are Brinsley Tyrrell, sculptor and emeritus professor of art at Kent State University; and David Cerone, president of the Cleveland Institute of Music from 1985 to 2008.

The awards event June 28 will begin at 6 p.m. WCPN arts commentator Dee Perry will host the evening, which will include performances and a video tribute to Miller.

SAVE THE DATES: 36th CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

36th CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (CIFF)

ANNOUNCES ITS DATES: March 22 – April 1, 2012

 

The 36^th Cleveland International Film Festival will take place March 22 – April 1, 2012 at Tower City Cinemas.  The CIFF has grown to attract more than 78,000 people to Tower City Cinemas over the course of the 11-day event (a 9% increase in attendance over the previous CIFF and a 122% increase since 2003).  At least 300 films from approximately 60 countries are showcased during this Spring arts tradition, along with more than 150 visiting filmmakers from around the world.

 

For additional information on the Cleveland International Film Festival, click here.

CIFF Announces Opening and Closing Films

From Cleveland.com:

Cleveland International Film Festival announces opening, closing night films: real-life Ohio wrestler and Carrie Underwood

Published: Friday, February 04, 2011, 11:24 AM     Updated: Friday, February 04, 2011, 12:00 PM

 By Clint O'Connor, The Plain Dealer 

Film HarvestRussell Harvard is wrestler Matt Hamill in "Hamill," opening night film at the CIFF.

The inspiring story of a deaf Ohio wrestler and Carrie Underwood's film debut are coming to the Cleveland International Film Festival.

"Hamill," a drama based on the life ofMatt "The Hammer" Hamill, from Loveland, will open the 35th festival atTower City Cinemas on Thursday, March 24. Directed by Oren Kaplan, it stars deaf actor Russell Harvard ("There Will be Blood") and Shoshannah Stern. The opening night gala kicks off at 7 p.m. with a party following at 9. Tickets are $125 ($100 for CIFF members).

"Soul Surfer," directed by Sean McNamara, recounts the true story of the shark attack on teen surfer Bethany Hamilton. It features AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, and Underwood, the American Idol turned country-singing megastar. "Soul Surfer" will be the closing night film on Sunday, April 3.

"I guess it's serendipity because our tag line this year is 'Be part of the story,' " Marcie Goodman, executive director of the festival, said Friday. "Our image campaign will have three posters, the hero, the lover and the rebel. To be opening and closing the festival with real-life heroes is meaningful."

The CIFF will announce the remaining slate of more than 280 films the week of Feb. 21. Tickets go on sale to CIFF members on Friday, March 4, and to the general public on Friday, March 11. For more information, click here.

From indieWIRE: CIFF = One of the 50 leading Film Festivals in the World

50 Film Festivals - indieWIRE

From indieWIRE: CIFF = One of the 50 leading Film Festivals in the world

"Held in mid to late March, the Cleveland International Film Festival is probably not what some call a “destination festival” such as similar-timed events that take place in warmer climates, but what the festival lacks in high temperatures, it makes up for in hospitality and eager audiences."




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Highlights from the 34th Cleveland International Film Festival

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE

34th CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Attendance of 71,554 (a 7% increase over the 33rd CIFF and more than a 100% increase since 2003)
• 153 feature films
• 152 short subjects
• 84 countries of origin
• Over 100 visiting filmmakers and other guests from around the world
• 151 sponsors and funders
• 85 community partners
• 73 media sponsors
• 44 college and university outreach partner campuses
• 200 college ambassadors
• Approximately 5,000 FilmSlam high school student attendees
• 115 staff members
• Over 400 volunteers
• $34,000 Challenge Match raised more than $52,000
• 1.5 tons of waste was diverted from landfills through composting and recycling
• Celebrity sightings:  Actress Jennifer Coolidge and Musician Dee Snider

FEATURE AWARD WINNERS
ROXANNE T. MUELLER AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD FOR BEST FILM
(sponsored by Cleveland Magazine) 
Louder Than a Bomb
Directed by Jon Siskel and Greg Jacobs (USA)
GREG GUND MEMORIAL STANDING UP FILM COMPETITION
(endowed by The George Gund Foundation with a $5,000 cash prize) 
Louder Than a Bomb
Directed by Jon Siskel and Greg Jacobs (USA)
AMERICAN INDEPENDENT AWARD
(with a $2,500 cash prize) 
Harvest
Directed by Marc Meyers (USA)
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN FILM COMPETITION
(sponsored by George Gund and Iara Lee with each winner receiving a $5,000 cash prize) 
Hipsters
Directed by Valery Todorovsky (Russia)

Honeymoons
Directed by Goran Paskaljevic (Serbia/Albania)

The three jurors this year were:  Russ Collins, Peter Knegt, and Harun Mehmedinovic
NESNADNY + SCHWARTZ DOCUMENTARY FILM COMPETITION
(sponsored by Nesnadny + Schwartz with a $5,000 cash prize) 
Marwencol
Directed by Jeff Malmberg (USA)

The three jurors were:  Aron Gaudet, Ryan Harrington, and Debra Zimmerman
SHORT SUBJECT AWARDS
Cleveland State University Audience Award for Best Short Film
Lights
Directed by Giulio Ricciarelli (Germany)
The Rice Hershey Memorial Award for Originality 
(sponsored by Bill Markstrom) 
Expiration
Directed by Mark Nickelsburg (USA)
The Clover and Maggie Award: In Celebration of Life
(sponsored by Barbara Hawley and David Goodman) 
The Best Part of My Day
Directed by Benjamin Dewhurst (USA)
The Jesse Epstein Humanitarian Award
(sponsored by Kodak Motion Picture Film) 
Heal
Directed by Mian Adnan Ahmad (Pakistan/USA)
The Spalding and Jackson Award: In Celebration of Joy
(sponsored by Marcie Goodman and John C. Williams) 
Winter Fugue
Directed by Jadrien Steele (USA)
The Best Animated Short Film Award*
(sponsored by Reminger Co., L.P.A.)  
Lost and Found
Directed by Philip Hunt (United Kingdom)
The Best Documentary Short Film Award
(sponsored by Jules and Fran Belkin)
Home
Matt Faust (USA)
The Best Live Action Short Film Award*
(sponsored by Anne Bloomberg and Alan Gordon Lipson & Judy Harris)
Ana's Playground
Directed by Eric D. Howell (USA)
The Best Student Short Film Award
(sponsored by Mike and Nicki Cancelliere) 
Cigarette Candy
Directed by Lauren Wolkstein (USA)
The Kodak Best Ohio Short Film Award
(sponsored by Kodak Motion Picture Film) 
The Beauty of Damage
Directed by Thomas Ball (USA)
The Best Women’s Short Film Award
(sponsored by Jinny and John Johnson)
Beast
Lars Arendt (Denmark)
The Best LGBT Short Film Award:

Given in Celebration of the Life of Nikki Babbit
(sponsored by Jamie and Harold Babbit)
Claiming the Title: The Gay Olympics on Trial
Directed by Jonathan Joiner and Robert Martin (USA)
The Best International Short Film Award
(sponsored by Mike and Nicki Cancelliere) 
The Devil's Wedding
Directed by Dan Cadan (United Kingdom)
The Programmer's Award
Get Happy
Directed by Mark Payne (USA)

* now eligible for Academy Award® nomination consideration

"Why the Cleveland International Film Festival is succeeding" via Cleveland.com

Repost from Cleveland.com:

Why the Cleveland International Film Festival is succeeding, even during the economic downturn

By Clint O'Connor, The Plain Dealer

Lisa DeJong, The Plain DealerMarcie Goodman, executive director of the Cleveland International Film Festival. MORE FILM FEST COVERAGEWe've got your complete coverage of the 34th annual Cleveland International Film Festival. For more stories, reviews, previews and other features during the course of the 11-day festival, CLICK HERE

Film Fest Official Site: Showtimes, trailers & more

If you want to put on an 11-day film festival and show more than 300 films, it will cost you about $1.4 million.

That's the budget for this year's Cleveland International Film Festival. The bulk of the money comes from ticket sales, membership fees, foundation grants, corporate sponsors, board of directors donations and Cuyahoga County taxpayers ($136,000 from the cigarette tax).

The festival also receives "in-kind" donations of goods and services -- media ad space, hotel rooms, restaurant meals, airline tickets -- that were valued last year at nearly $670,000. Forest City Enterprises, for example, donated $90,000 worth of free parking at Tower City Center.

Beyond the dollars, it's that good old-fashioned retail mantra: The customer is always right.

"The film festival does an extraordinarily good job of evaluating its audiences each year," said Thomas B. Schorgl, president of the Community Partnership for Arts & Culture. "They interview people after the films. They really listen to their opinions, and they act on them. They know how to make people feel welcome. They're very consumer-oriented."

Five reasons the festival has thrived even in dark economic times:

• It's movies, baby. If you're peddling a major event, it helps to be pushing the most popular art form in the world. Films are a much easier sell than say, poetry, performance art or interpretive dance.

A board that isn't bored. The festival faced a financial crisis in 2003. It cut personnel, dumped programming and refitted its board of directors with more check writers and fundraisers. All 37 members contribute money. The current president is longtime Cleveland music promoter Jules Belkin, who spent last summer meeting separately with each board member.

Marcie, Bill, Patrick, Debby and Debbie. That would be Goodman, Guentzler, Shepherd, Samples and Marshall, respectively, the full-time executive staff. It's a lean operation. There are seasonal staffers, part-timers and hordes of volunteers, too. But the fab five run the show. Stability helps. Most of them have worked together for a dozen years.

Twelve-month cycle. "Marcie [Goodman] and I haven't stopped fundraising for this year's festival," said Patrick Shepherd, the festival's associate director. "And as soon as it's over, we'll start fundraising for next year's." The staff also hosts a series of promotional events, this past year reaching out to New York, Pittsburgh, Akron and Columbus.

Relationships. When Shepherd joined the festival in 1998, its partnerships with area nonprofits and community organizations totaled one. This year, it has 83. The loss from last year's corporate and foundation cutbacks was nominal, and it was offset by an injection of new contributors. Last year, the festival had 108 sponsors and donors. This year, 149.

"It's important that those relationships reach outside the arts world to business, to organized labor, to health and human services, public education and higher-education," said Schorgl. "Then you become much more relevant to the community at large."

Cleveland International Film Festival Notes - 030910

Have you bought your tickets to your favorite films for this years film festival? If not, you might want to do it soon. Some of the more popular films are already about to go in to 'stand-by' mode. If that doesn't motivate you to get your tickets now, perhaps these other bullets will get you off your keister:

• This past Tuesday (03/09) the Cleveland Preview Party was held at Cadillac Ranch. In previous years, the local preview party would draw a decent crowd of roughly 300 film fans, staff and volunteers. By the morning of this years party there were nearly 600 RSVP's. I don't know what the final count was but  it would be a safe bet to guess it was over the 600 count.
• The first day of member ticket sales this year doubled the amount sold on the same day last year.
• Last years first day public ticket sales were roughly $18,000. This years first day public ticket sales hit a record $25,000.
• This year's total ticket sales to date are up roughly 23% from last year.

Last year was already a record breaking season for the Film Festival. This year looks to be another one.

34th CIFF's Website Is Live

34th CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL’S (CIFF) WEBSITE IS LIVE Let’s Go.  The 34th CIFF’s website is now live.  Visit www.clevelandfilm.org to see our newly redesigned film description pages and to learn what will be on screen at this year’s CIFF, March 18 – 28, 2010 at Tower City Cinemas.  Be sure to check back for program updates between now and March 28th. The CIFF is thrilled to announce our CIFF iPhone App.  Search for films, get screening times, view program details, watch the 34th CIFF trailer; it’s like having the CIFF in your pocket! Click here to download our FREE iPhone App.  Special thanks to FORM for designing the CIFF iPhone App.    Tickets go on sale to members only on Friday, February 26th and to the general public on Friday, March 5th.  Not a member?  Become one here or call 216.623.3456 x10.  Ticket prices for most films are $10 per film for CIFF members and $12 for non-members.  Tickets will be available online at www.clevelandfilm.org, by telephone (1.877.304.FILM), at the CIFF store in the lobby of Tower City Cinemas, or by mail using the Program Guide order form. Program Guides will be available throughout the region, including all Dollar Bank locations, the week of March 1st.

THE 34th CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL TO OPEN WITH: TiMER

THE 34th CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL TO OPEN WITH: TiMER (OPENING NIGHT SPONSOR:  DOLLAR BANK) TiMER, directed by Jac Schaeffer, is a romantic comedy that asks the question:  "If a clock could count down to the moment you meet your soul mate, would you want to know?"  TiMER, starring Emma Caulfield, John Patrick Amedori, Michelle Borth, and JoBeth Williams, is set to open the 34th Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) on Thursday, March 18th. TiMER:  When implanted in a person's wrist, a TiMER counts down to the day the wearer finds true love. But Oona O'Leary faces the rare dilemma of a blank TiMER. Her soul mate - whoever and wherever he is - has yet to have a TiMER implanted. Staring down the barrel of thirty and tired of waiting for her would-be life partner to get off the dime, Oona breaks her own rules and falls for Mikey, a charming and inappropriately young supermarket clerk with a countdown of four months. Tickets to the Opening Night Gala, sponsored by Dollar Bank, are $125 per person ($100 for CIFF members).  The Gala includes the film at 7:00 p.m. at Tower City Cinemas, followed by a TiMER party at 9:00 p.m. at MK Ferguson Plaza in Tower City Center, with special guest Jac Schaeffer. For more information on the 300+ films that will be shown between Opening Night and Closing Night of the 34th Cleveland International Film Festival, log on to www.clevelandfilm.org on February 15th.    Tickets go on sale to members only on Friday, February 26th and to the general public on Friday, March 5th.  Advanced ticket prices for most films are $10 per film for CIFF members and $12 for non-members.  Tickets will be available online atwww.clevelandfilm.org, by telephone (1.877.304.FILM), at the CIFF store in the lobby of Tower City Cinemas, or by mail using the Program Guide order form.  Program Guides will be available throughout the region, including all Dollar Bank locations, the week of February 22nd.    To become a CIFF member (which will enable you to order your tickets first and at a discount) click hereor call 216.623.3456 x10.   Photo Credit:  Present Pictures

BE PART OF THE 34th CIFF TRAILER

BE PART OF THE 34th CIFF TRAILER

The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) would like to invite you to participate in the production of our promotional trailer for the 34th CIFF. You are invited to participate by telling your story. Please tell us how you would complete the following sentence:

"(your opening here)...because of the Cleveland International Film Festival."

Some selections will be filmed for the promotional trailer and many entries will be showcased on the CIFF website, blog, and in other social media.

You may submit your sentence to this email address, becauseof@clevelandfilm.org.



Be sure to include your name and phone number.

You may also submit a 30-second video completing the sentence to becauseof@clevelandfilm.org.

Deadline for submission is Monday, January 18th.

Your submission is an understanding that the Cleveland International Film Festival has the right to use your content and image in association with promotion of the Film Festival in perpetuity, in all media.


Cleveland International Film Festival

2510 Market Avenue | Cleveland, OH 44113-3434 | 216.623.3456