37th cleveland international film festival :: April 3 - april 14, 2013
Film Festival Blog
March 24th, 2007 @ 7:30pm

Winners in every way!

Bob and Jan Patetta have been coming to the Cleveland International Fan Festival every year since 2000. They generally come up from Akron for at least one weekend, and "whenever we can get away," says Bob.

This festival, though, has been very special for them. Long-time supporters of the Cleveland Film Society, they attended our Akron Preview Party last month, and walked away winners of two Director-Level Festival Passes.

"We're trying to figure out a way to win again!" Bob joked when I spoke to them earlier. Both he and Jan have found the Director-level amenities addictive. Since they didn't have to pay for any of their films, they splurged on a hotel room in town so that they could stay late for movies this weekend and then fall into bed, instead of driving home to Akron on those nights.

Typically, at past festivals, they would see eight or nine films, but this year they've been having a blast. "It'll be thirty tomorrow when all is said and done," Jan told me.

They couldn't pick a favorite, shuffling through the names of half a dozen films they'd especially enjoyed. "The quality of movies has been very high this year," Bob finally said with a grin.

They were also deeply impressed with the order and courtesy of the Festival.

"Despite all the record crowds, it's been really smoothly-run," Bob told me.

"There's been not one movie cancellation," Jan added. "I think that's amazing. That's a lot of coordination, a lot of work!"

After sampling the amenities of the Director-Level membership, they both felt it was very much worth the usual price, so maybe we'll see them wearing orange passes again next year! No matter what, we'll definitely see them for many years to come, though, because they are exactly the kind of die-hard Festival-goers we love.

Posted by Lara Klaber

« previous entry   |   next entry »