A feast of cinema art

By Milan Paurich

A feast of cinema art

Although it’s easier than ever to see esoteric movies these days thanks to services such as Netflix and DirecTV, nothing beats the communal experience of a film festival. If flying to Cannes, Sundance, Berlin or even Toronto simply isn’t in your recession-era travel budget, the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) provides an invaluable service for those of us who don’t quite get the appeal of mainstream fluff such as “Paul Blart, Mall Cop” or “Hotel for Dogs.” For just a tank of gas, it’s a great opportunity to binge on a smorgasbord of what’s new and happening in world cinema.

CIFF, which kicks off at 7 p.m. Thursday with a screening of “Lightbulb,” a charming rags-to-riches tale by the director of 2003 cult fave “Danny Deckchair,” lets area buffs sample “art-with-a-capital-A” flicks that will most likely never see the light of day in Mahoning Valley theaters. For 11 days and nights, CIFF will be serving up such exotic bon-bons as “School Play,” an award-winning documentary about a group of fifth-graders staging a grade school production of “The Wizard of Oz.” Or, direct from January’s Sundance Film Festival, “Art and Copy,” a documentary about how the advertising world has changed not only how we view commodities, but how we view ourselves.

“School Play” and “Art and Copy” are just two of of the docs scheduled to play CIFF’s prestigious Nesnadny + Schwartz Documentary Film Competition in which 13 nonfiction entries vie for a cash prize awarded by a panel of jurors.

A total of 29 movies — including 2008 Oscar nominee “The Garden” — are in the running for CIFF’s Greg Gung Memorial Standing Up Film Competition, which celebrates social justice and activism. Selected by audience vote, the winner of the competition’s $5,000 cash prize will be announced at the Closing Night reception. A baker’s dozen of homegrown indies compete for a cash prize in the American Independent sidebar, another CIFF competition in which the audience picks the winner. Juries comprised of film professionals award the festival’s other prizes.

And in CIFF’s seventh annual Central and Eastern European Film Competition, films from Croatia, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, et al, contend for a $10,000 check. The winners in all four competitive categories will be announced March 29, the festival’s closing night.

As usual, CIFF’s “something for everyone” programming (140 features and 170 shorts representing more than 60 countries) is spread over a groaning board of individual sections and subdivisions. You can pick and choose from It’s Easy Being Green (eco-friendly films); Jewish and Israeli Visions (films from or about Israel and the Jewish diaspora); Cinema en Espanol (Spanish language films); Local Heroes (films made about Cleveland, in Cleveland or by Clevelanders); 10% Cinema (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender films); Scandinavian Screenings (contemporary Nordic cinema); Pacific Pearls (films from Asia and the Pacific Islands); Pan-African Images (films from Africa and the United States by and about Africans and blacks); Music! Movies! (films highlighting musicians, musical movements and the influence of music on movies); Film is Art (a tribute to artists and the artistic process); Women of the World (films by or about empowered women); and Midnight Snacks (cultish, late-night fare).

There’s also a sidebar devoted to family-friendly movies from such far-flung locales as Taiwan, France, Canada and even the good old U.S. of A. Plus, directors Ramin Bahrani (“Goodbye Solo”) and Gerardo Naranjo (“I’m Gonna Explode”) share the spotlight in CIFF’s annual “Someone to Watch” series, which celebrates the work of rising stars in the world of international cinema. Both Bahrani and Naranjo will be feted with mini-retrospectives of their films.