Membership in the Cleveland Film Society is available on a variety of levels, some of which come with some really impressive perks, including all-day or all-week Festival passes that let the members at those levels attend any movie they choose. Because they've essentially paid in advance for that privilege, we have to make sure that, if they show up, there is a seat waiting for them. So we don't make all of the tickets available for sale in advance. In most cases, this means that you can walk up and buy a ticket on the day of the show, but occasionally, with a really popular film, presale crowds can completely eat up those advance tickets.

Does that mean the movie is sold out? No, not at all.

There are still seats available. We just have to make sure that, if the people with passes show up for the screening, they still have seats. Fifteen minutes before the film's scheduled to begin, however, we start opening the remaining seats to Stand-By moviegoers. So you have a fantastic chance of still getting a seat at the showing. All Stand-By tickets are "first-come-first-served," so if a film is on Stand-By, the best idea is to arrive early.

How does the Stand-By work?

Once you arrive at the Stand-By Lounge, outside of the theater, you purchase a numbered ticket. Stand-By tickets go on sale one hour before showtime. You can then wait in the lounge or browse around Tower City until about fifteen minutes before the show. At that point, once we know how many seats are available, people from Stand-By will start to be seated, in numerical order by the number on their tickets. Most of the time, we manage to get everybody with a Stand-By ticket seated. Only a very few, exceptionally popular films ever leave anyone unseated.

The most important thing to remember is that, if a film is on Stand-By, your chances are best if you come early. Especially on a day like today, with the road delays the way they are, it's a great idea to give yourself some extra time. In all probability, on a night like tonight, there will be enough no-shows that it won't be an issue, but there could be some tighter ones later on in the Festival, so remember: come early.

And speaking of no-shows, if you bought tickets for tonight but have decided not to come down because of the weather, you can exchange your tickets for either a voucher or another ticket, but you'll need to do that in person (unless you still hadn't picked your tickets up yet, in which case we can physically exchange them on the spot). We apologize for that inconvenience. Still, I'd like to urge you to come down and join us. Tower City Cinemas are warm and comfortable, and when you're here, you won't be at all aware of the frightful weather outside. If you don't want to drive in this weather, I love RTA and recommend it highly. You can let them chauffeur you directly to Tower City on any of the train lines and most of the bus lines, and not worry about the drive at all. And you can also stay at one of our partner hotels for the night, if you don't want to leave downtown in this weather.

Don't let the snow stop you from having a great weekend with us; Clevelanders are tougher than any snowstorm.