Film festival offers cinematic smorgasbord

By MILAN PAURICH

entertainment@vindy.com

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 34th Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) provides an invaluable service for those of us who don’t quite get the appeal of mindless mainstream fluff such as “Valentine’s Day” or “Tooth Fairy.” 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 one-time-only screening of “Timer,” a quirky romantic comedy by first-time director Jac Schaeffer, 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 “Racing Dreams,” an award-winning documentary about three kids competing in the World Karting Association’s National Championship. Or, direct from January’s Sundance Film Festival, “Last Train Home,” a documentary about the world’s largest human migration of 130 migrant workers attempting to travel home once a year for Chinese New Year.

“Racing Dreams” and “Last Train Home” are just two of of the docs scheduled to play CIFF’s prestigious Nesnadny + Schwartz Documentary Film Competition in which 12 non-fiction entries vie for a cash prize awarded by a panel of jurors.

Twenty-nine movies — including “Fire in the Heartland: Kent State, May 4th, and Student Protest in America” — 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 dozen 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 eighth 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 wildly eclectic, “something for everyone” programming (290 films originating from more than 60 different countries) is spread over a groaning board of individual sections and sub-divisions. 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); Illuminating Hope (films celebrating the human experience as an inspiration for hope); Pacific Pearls (films from Asia and the Pacific Islands); Pan-African Images (films from Africa and the United States by and about Africans and African-Americans); 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 Tour of Duty (films about past and present conflicts, the lessons learned and the desire for resolution).

There’s also a sidebar devoted to family-friendly movies from such far-flung locales as Belgium, The United Kingdom and even the good old U.S. of A.

Plus, directors Jan Hrebejk (the Oscar-nominated “Divided We Fall”) and Emily Abt (“Toe to Toe”) share the stage in CIFF’s annual “Director’s Spotlight” and “Someone to Watch” programs which celebrate the work of rising stars in the world of international cinema. Both Hrebejk and Abt will be feted with mini-retrospectives of their films.