37th cleveland international film festival :: April 3 - april 14, 2013
Film Festival Blog
March 18th, 2010 @ 11:45pm

An Amazing Opening Night

Clevelanders sure know how to have a good time!

After reading in today's paper about how yesterday's St. Patrick's Day parade was a record-breaker, I had a feeling that tonight was going to be surprising. Although I have to confess I was a little worried that the weather was so lovely that many of you might not want to come back inside! But tonight's crowd was nothing short of amazing. I wasn't sure whether I was imagining it or not until I heard Marcie say that the caterers were expecting about five hundred fewer. That was a little mind-blowing!

You'd never have guessed it when you got to the party, though. Those caterers came through, and so did all of you! It was wonderful to see so many Festival regulars and friends back this year, and to hear what you thought of TiMER (yes, as I told several people, it's a film I intend to own on DVD once it comes out) and what your Festival plans are.

It's funny how, once Opening Night starts up, it feels like we were standing around the Tower City fountain just the other day, and it hasn't been almost a year. There's something timeless about the Festival, even as we spend time counting down the days to it. And now that it's begun, part of me feels like it's going to stretch out forever, even as another part of me knows that the next ten days are going to pass way too quickly. But either way, it's wonderful that you're all going to be part of it with us.

Welcome back. Welcome home. It's so wonderful to see all of you again.

Posted by Lara Klaber

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