37th cleveland international film festival :: April 3 - april 14, 2013
Film Festival Blog
March 27th, 2010 @ 4:45pm

Saturday Night Stand-Bys at Seven (alliteration for the win)

How crazy is today?

Things have just been bustling up here in the Hospitality Suite, and we've had non-stop guests coming into the room, a stream of intereviews, all kinds of exciting things going on! As I write this, we have Kevin Richards (the director of First Voice Ohio) up here with his guitar, playing music for us! I swear, everything happens at the Festival!

Now it's time to talk about our 7pm round, which has seven awesome films in it. Have I mentioned that they're all on Stand-By? You're old hands at navigating the Stand-By lines at this point, but just in case someone brand-new is reading this (*waves!*) I'll post my handy link to Stand-By 101 again. (The rest of you are, I'm sure, sick of seeing it.)

So, we're starting the round at 6:30 with A Room and a Half, or a Sentimental Journey to the Homeland, which will take you back to Russia with poet Laureate Joseph Brodsky as he returns to his birthplace after almost forty years in exile. It's a wonderful journey. Or journey even further back in time, to Milan in the early twentieth century, for Vincere. Meet the first wife of Benito Mussolini, and watch as her seduction and betrayal at his hands parallels what he would ultimately do to the Italian people.

At 6:50, join us for the hugely popular Father and Guns, the story of a father-and-son pair of law enforcement agents in Montreal as they go undercover in an adventure therapy group that might have a bigger impact on them than they'd intended. Have you seen our short video "Lost in Translation" yet? One of father and Guns' lead actors, Patrick Drolet, teamed up with short film director Yvette Edery -- he would share information about his film in French, and she would translate. But things got very interesting because Yvette doesn't actually speak French. If you'd like to see the results, you can watch the clip on our YouTube channel.

Then, at 7:00, it's time for My Year Without Sex. TMI? I promise, I'm not talking about my personal life. It's a lovely Australian film that's all about the difficulties of raising a family in our consumer-driven, sex-crazed, sports-obsessed culture. When an overloaded mother is felled by an aneurysm, her year of recuperation reacquaints her with what really matters in life. It could be a very good revelation for you, too!

Meet Handsome Harry at 7:10, and travel with him as he tries to uncover the terrible truths connected to a close friend's deathbed request. It's a powerhouse film with a number of unforgettable actors in it – Jamey Sheridan, Steve Buscemi, Aidan Quinn, Campbell Scott... the list goes on. Between their nuanced performances and the secret Harry is uncovering, it's an unforgettable journey.

You can also journey into an extraordinary make-believe village with Marwencol, which will take you into the mind and imagination of artist and Navy Veteran Mark Hogancamp, as he journeys from the brutal assault that left him in a coma, to the discovery of his remarkable photos by a major art gallery. The world he creates is seductive and might end up taking him captive... and maybe it'll take you captive, too. This screening begins at 7:20.

Have a Mid-August Lunch on a late-March evening, and see what happens when a mild-mannered, accommodating man (actor-director Gianni Di Gregorio) ends up playing caregiver to everybody's elderly Mamma during a bank holiday. The screening starts at 7:30, and it's a romp.

So that takes you through our big 7pm Stand-By round. A few tips and tricks if you still haven't migrated down to Tower City yet:

  • You should definitely read Stand-By 101 if you haven't already. It explains how Stand-By works, and what you can do to improve your chances (and experience) in the line.

  • Remember that Tower City is having some parking issues, and take them into account when you drive down so that you don't run late.

  • If you don't want to deal with Tower City's parking issues, you can also park at the North Car Park at 549 Superior Avenue. They've opened up parking for Film Festival patrons this weekend, so you can try there if you can't navigate the detours.

  • Have fun! That's the most important thing of all for this weekend.


I can't believe how much fun I'm having with all of this! Have a wonderful time in your film!

Posted by Lara Klaber

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