When I arrived at the Cleveland International Film Festival Sunday afternoon for the 2:15 PM showing of THE TOUR, directed by Goran Markovic, Tower City Cinemas was packed! I quickly took a place in the long line for my film. I later learned that yesterday's attendance broke all previous records; 9,500 had attended. With many of Sunday's films on standby by the early afternoon, the last day of the festival promised to be a record breaker too. The gentleman who introduce THE TOUR also told us that the fund raising goal of $33,000 had been surpassed. By Saturday evening $45,000 had been donated. CIFF staff were optimistic that the total would exceed $50,000 by the end of the festival.

I thought I'd post this since we have had some very interesting dialog in the past on graffiti and art. This tag appear recently on the steps of the Mildred Putnam Sculpture Garden on East 118th Street near Euclid Avenue.

SHALL WE KISS directed by Emmanuel Mouret

HERB AND DOROTHY directed by Megumi Sasaki
&
SCHOOL PLAY directed by Eddie Rosenstein

My first pick, at 11:45 am, was Dancers, by the Danish director Pernille Fischer Christensen.

Her second feature length film, it is part of the CIFF series titled  “Scandinavian Screenings.”

Dancers plays again Sunday March 22 at 9:20 pm. I highly recommend this film!

Once a year, during the brief run of the Cleveland International Film Festival, Cleveland feels like one of the great cities of the world. For a little more than a week the grand space of Tower City is filled with life; diverse crowds of art lovers flow in and out, steadily buzzing with excitement for what they are experiencing. Because it only happens once a year, it is easy to overlook The Cleveland International Film Festival as one of Cleveland's greatest assets.
 

 

Don't give up, yet...A few more weeks, and Cleveland can celebrate St. Patrick's Day, and then we are home clear once the film festival starts!  The winter of 2008-09 is almost, almost, almost over...  

Find a sunny, south-facing wall and hold on.  We will all be okay!

Please Join us for a look at the works of some of Cleveland's finest African American Filmmakers

Works by: Fred Boswell, Georgio Sabino, Marcell Dorsey, Nikki Byrd, Robert Banks Jr. and Preston Pickett.

Location

Despite corruption and cronyism galore, Ohio does have it's bright and shiny moments of good and brilliant. Here's a way to make history come alive for your kids (from ODOT!) http://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D06/Maps/Pages/OhioUndergroundRailroadMapsPage.aspx

We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.

Shout out to Slavic Village Sandy, who is the voice of NEO. Thanks for the heads up!

This is your invitation to join Miami alumni and friends from around the globe for a Charter Day Celebration 200 years in the making. Space is limited at each event and the deadline to RSVP is February 7, 2009.

 

More information and online registration are available at www.MiamiAlum.org/Chapters or you can Joanne Harper at 1-866-MU-ALUMS.

Location

Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio offers ARTWORKS, a program where students work with professional artists and other students to create work in music, dance, theater and visual art.

Students entering 10th, 11th and 12th grade are eligible. to apply, go to http://www.yaneo.org/what/artworks.php

Student applications are due March 20. Professional artists who want to work with the students are encouraged to apply by February 12th. The program takes place June 17-July 30th.  Call 216.561.5005 for more information.

Chers Amis, Join us for a reading of short stories in French by Author Marie-Jeanne Urech. Afterwards tour the Foreign Literature and Audio-Video Departments.

Location

 Pecha Kucha Night Cleveland #2

Friday, February 6th, 2009 Start 8:20pm (doors open at 7)
House of Blues 308 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio

Location

1st post here...

I got a copy of this documentary and figured I'd let folks know it exists.

Flag Wars
Linda Goode Bryant
Year 2003

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359281

Focus is on a Columbus neighborhood, and it's fairly akin to Tremont, East Cleveland, or Ohio City issues. I found this movie to be interesting but I wouldn't go as far as the review below and say it's great. It did have a bunch of neighbors who really grated on one another though, hence there were some lively realizations of homophobia and racism brewing.

from berkeleymedia.com:

For teens 14-19.

Free spoken word, performance and leadership events for teens. Whether you are writing, slamming, DJing, MCing, or dancing, you will connect with old friends, make new friends, and have a chance to compete for a spot on Cleveland's Youth Poetry Slam team.

WHEN: Friday nights and weekday afternoons January - April 2009

WHERE: Idea Center at Playhouse Square 1375 Euclid Ave. Cleveland 

When Doug Clifton became editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, I was in frequent communication with Columnist Tom Brazaitis. I shared with Tom information technology advice to improve the newspaper - like adding email addresses to the articles in the paper (which they didn't do at the time), and completely transforming how they used the Internet. Tom suggested I contact Clifton directly, which I did, and Doug was very receptive to feedback and we ended up corresponding regularly.

What better way to see Cleveland--10 a.m. -12:00 p.m. for all upcoming dates listed here. 

January 3rd The West Side Market 1979 W. 25th Street Bring in the new year by sketching the Saturday activity at the market. With the enclosed produce section and the impressive indoor market space...it is the perfect winter locale!

Life is just one long road and the trip can be painful and it can be beautiful. Yes--deep, deep (possibly creepy) thoughts, but the experience at La Strada, the new restaurant, is not sad, or painful--just beautiful.

In the same week that Ohio Governor Strickland vetoes a bill to create a tax credit for those creating film and video production jobs in Ohio, the Illinois Governor (yeah, that guy, the one who's been in the news lately), signed a bill to expand their 20% tax credit to 30%. Do you think he knows something that Governor Strickland does not?