37th cleveland international film festival :: April 3 - april 14, 2013
Film Festival Blog
April 3rd, 2011 @ 6:30pm

The final round comes around again...

Every year, as the final round prepares to go in and the Closing Night Ceremony closes in, I'm a little bewildered as to how quickly the time has passed and how much has happened in it. Things are a bit of a blur at times, but I've had the most wonderful time this year, meeting incredible people and making new friends. There are so many people I'd love to give shout-outs to -- tens of thousands of you, really, if I could!

There are some that left a very deep impression, so... Tim, Joke, Biagio, Steve, Laura, Paul, Tyree, Doron, Bob, Dan, Rachel, Crunchy and Meaghan (for playing Hepburn and Tracy in front of me every day), Mel, Walt, Beata, Alexander (and everybody in Harmonia!), and... so many more...

Trying to make a list of all the people who affected me this year is impossible, really, because I'd have to spend days adding names and even then I'd miss someone important. You. All of you. You've made my days. If you flip to pages 136-137 of the Festival program guide, you'll see a small fraction of the people I need to give shout-outs to.

We'll thank you properly tonight at nine, of course. I hope all of you will be there -- I know some of you can't be because you're now cities or states away, but I wish you were all here with us tonight. The wonderful team at Virginia Marti should be recording the ceremony again this year, so look for it on their YouTube page soon!

The tide of sound is rising in the Hospitality HQ one last time, as we prepare for the final round to go in. At 7:00 the doors will close and things will go quiet... and then we'll see you around the fountain at 9:00. I feel like it's the end of a family reunion, or summer camp, where suddenly something that was wonderful and lasting forever abruptly comes to an end. I knew it was coming, but I was hoping to put it off for as long as possible.

Let's do it all again next year.

Posted by Lara Klaber

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