37th cleveland international film festival :: April 3 - april 14, 2013
Film Festival Blog
April 1st, 2011 @ 5:05pm

AWOL but so worth it!

Oh wow. I went downstairs to ferret out a few people for that story I'm working on -- I still have to catch up with them -- and to snag myself one of the sweatshirts while we still have them in stock. And then I got swept up in a tide.

This huge stream of people started coming in, and flowing into the theater for Dying to Do Letterman. I've been having a wonderful time going back and forth with the director/producers -- wife-and-husband team Joke and Biagio, with whom I've been having a sort-of blog-off -- so I shot them a quick email asking if they'd seen the huge crowds. Suddenly they were right in front of me, and I found myself swept up with them, walking over to the theater, and then following them into it so I could see their introduction of the film.

I figured I'd see them introduce the film and then get back to my story quest. But then, within seconds of the film starting... I couldn't leave.

I know this probably mirrors an experience that a lot of you have had at the Festival, where a film you expected to like goes far beyond that and takes hold of you, refusing to let you go. Where a film, for a short space of time, displaces your life and becomes your new life, and the experience of the story enters you on a shockingly intimate level, as though it's your story, and your own life somehow. Within seconds, I felt like I'd known Steve Mazan for years and this was somehow a personal conversation that he was having with me... and I was completely lost in it. I know that all of you know what that feels like... it's what brings us here day after day, year after year.

And I know everybody in the theater felt the same way, because almost none of us moved as the credits rolled, or even afterward. Then the Q&A started with something that I don't think I've ever seen before... an audience-wide standing ovation.

I'm still coming down from that incredible high. Just so you know, if you want more of a chance to see Steve, you can see him do some actual stand-up at 8 pm tonight, and again at 10, over at Hilarities. So if you have some actual downtime on your film-going schedule, that's a great place to go. And if not, just look for him here -- he and the others will be here through the end of the Festival, handing out more of their super-cool buttons -- and come up and say hi. Also, if you're not actually in our Midnight Shorts tonight, tune in to WHK 1420 AM at 11:00 pm -- they'll be on the air!

I wish there was some way that I could get to know every filmmaker who comes to the Festival in the way I've been able to get to know the D2DL team, because they're all so awesome and it would be cool to give personalized shout-outs to everybody. (Even if my fingers would probably fall off in the process!) But I know that this group, and the other filmmakers I've managed to spend time with, have really enriched my life and inspired me to new heights. Most of them are really accessible people, too, who would love to tell you all about their films and their bodies of work, so if you encounter some of them around Tower City Center, say hello! It might just change your life, too.

And now, I have got to get back to tracking down all of the people I need to interview for that story. I've gotten so behind, but that's what happens when you let the world of cinema in... it catches you up and sometimes it won't let you go.

Posted by Lara Klaber

« previous entry   |   next entry »