36th cleveland international film festival :: march 22 - april 1, 2012
Film Festival Blog
March 30th, 2009 @ 9:00pm

One Day Later...

It was about this time yesterday that the theaters from our final round began to empty out and all of you began joining us around the fountain in Tower City. We gathered around it and listened to the incredible news that the Festival staff and board had for us. I know I'm still reeling.

The final attendance figure: 66,476, up 27% from last year, and up 89% since 2003!

Our final challenge match donation figure: $52,000, way above the $33,000 goal we'd set, proving yet again that Clevelanders are some of the biggest-hearted and most generous people in this world.

And then there were the awards. So many beautiful films, and so many wonderful honors. It was a magical night. Even after the area around the fountain emptied out, I wasn't ready to go home, so I went -- with so many of the wonderful friends I made during the Festival, both this year and prior years -- to Tower 230 for a while. I think I finally left at about 12:30 am.

This morning was "breakdown day," a day that has nothing to do with tears and everything to do with cleaning up the cinema and the Hospitality HQ and leaving things the way we found them (if not better). Any of you who have participated in a theatrical breakdown day can probably verify that it can take a whole day; ours, in spite of how much we'd brought in, was done in about three hours. That's how organized our directors are, both where you see the results and behind the scenes. And that's just another reason that I consider this to be the best job on Earth and wish I could do it year-round.

So things are now beginning to normalize. I'm back in classes, gearing up for my own film shoot in a few weeks (fingers crossed... maybe my film will play at a Midnight Shorts screening next year...), catching up on missed homework and readings... and missed sleep. In fact, I'm going to catch up on more of that in just a few minutes. But don't worry... this year I fully intend not to let this blog just lapse into silence, just because "real life" has come back. There's still a lot to do. Videos to upload, pictures to organize, reviews and the like from our guest bloggers to post.

Two of my favorite "surprise, it's a small world" moments in the Festival were discovering that one of the visiting directors is close friends with my cousins... and running into my elementary school best friend standing in the Stand-By line. (And yay, she got in!) But I can't even begin to pick my favorite moment from the Festival at the whole, because they were so many. They blended together into a warm glow that I'm still feeling now... and I hope that you've all felt the same way, too. It's the best feeling in the world.

Posted by Lara Klaber

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