4/2/2025 10 films to watch at the 2025 Cleveland International Film Festival before it ends

4/1/25 The projectors are rolling: CIFF49 kicks off with record crowds and new features, with more to come

4/1/25 Freshwater Cleveland: The projectors are rolling: CIFF49 kicks off with record crowds and new features, with more to come

3/31/25 Greater Cleveland Partnership: Lights, camera, community! The magic of the Cleveland International Film Festival Trailer

 3/31/25 'Lost & Found in Cleveland’ sets CIFF attendance record

The 49th Cleveland International Film Festival is officially underway through April 5th at Playhouse Square! ....

We enjoyed the last day of the Cleveland International Film Festival with Tadashi Nakamura's Third Act Film......

We've been posting about the Cleveland International Film Festival a lot....

Check out the awesome media coverage the films and filmmakers received during CIFF49. From local television stations to independent news sources to out of town digital outlets, we were amazed at how far some of these stories traveled. 

CIFF49 Media Coverage

Looking for the CIFF49 Film Guides? Here's how to get yours!

Get your CIFF49 Film Guides today. See new and independent film in Cleveland. Things to do in Cleveland. March 27 - April 5 in person at Playhouse Square.

CIFF49 Film Guide Locations | Cleveland International Film Festival

Where to Find CIFF49 Film Guides!

The wait is over! The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) proudly announces the complete lineup for its highly anticipated 49th season, CIFF49, featuring 300 exceptional films from around the globe.

Discover the spotlight films for the 49th Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF), featuring exciting world, North American, and U.S. premieres!  Explore 300 independent films from around the globe March 27 - April 13, 2025. Get your tickets now! 

CIFF, CIFF49, Cleveland International Film Festival, independent film, film festival, movie festival, film premieres, spotlight films, Marlee Matlin, Amy Landecker,  André Holland, Playhouse Square, Cleveland, Ohio, film tickets

CIFF49 Film Schedule Announced! | Cleveland International Film Festival

Lights, Camera, CIFF49!  Cleveland International Film Festival Announces 300-Film Lineup  

For Filmmakers Menu

CIFF49 (2025) Call for Entries is now CLOSED.

CIFF50 Call for entries will open july 2025. ciff49 notifications will be sent by february 28, 2025.

All information on DEADLINES AND how to submit is on CIFF's 

The 49th Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) will take place March 27 - April 5, 2025 in person at Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland, OH, and online April 6-13, 2025 as part of CIFF49 Streams.

CIFF is excited to return to the beautiful and iconic Playhouse Square - the largest performing arts district in the U.S., outside of New York City. All Festival details (including dates, format, and venues) are subject to change.

CIFF49 will consist of hundreds of films, post-film conversations and Q&As with filmmakers, balloting, and over $135,000 in cash awards.

CIFF is committed to offering screening fees or travel assistance for all feature and short films accepted into the Festival. We are happy to report that CIFF continues to be one of the few Academy Award®-qualifying festivals in the world for all three categories of shorts films—live action, animated, and documentary. CIFF accepts films of any runtime, any genre, and from every country. CIFF is also happy to once again offer submission waivers to any CIFF alum (1 per person) whose current film meets the CIFF49 requirements.

The CIFF audience is a microcosm of the city of Cleveland, ranging from middle, high school, and college students, to young families, to seniors. As such, our Screening Team is a microcosm of our audience - a diverse volunteer committee of nearly 200 film enthusiasts, ranging from industry professionals to local film students. Each submitted film is screened in full by at least three Screening Team judges, who are also required to submit written constructive feedback for each film they watch. Any paid submission is eligible to receive this feedback post-festival, regardless of selection.

Those films that move on from our general Screening Team (typically about 1/3 of submissions) are then viewed and considered by our Features and Shorts Programming Teams. CIFF Programmers are selected based on lived experience, professional experience, and knowledge of CIFF audience. Combined with curated films from other festivals, the latest edition of CIFF (2024) programmed 138 feature films and 225 short films from 60 countries. 305 of those films came through our Screening Team!

For all questions related to submissions, please see our Terms and Conditions below, visit the Call for Entries FAQs on clevelandfilm.org, or email submissions@clevelandfilm.org.

We thank you for sharing your films with us!

*PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL THEATRICAL SCREENINGS AT CIFF49 WILL BE IN DCP (FEATURE AND SHORT FILMS).* Thus, all invited films will be required to send a DCP file for exhibition.

*Films whose productions were completed after June 1, 2023, are eligible for submission to CIFF49.

*If your submission is INCOMPLETE (including missing, invalid, and expired uploads, links or passwords) our submissions team will email to notify you. You will then have one week to rectify the issue, after which your submission will be DISQUALIFIED and will not be considered for the next festival.

*In order to be eligible for participation in CIFF49, films must NOT have been exhibited in person within the Greater Cleveland area, as CIFF requires a CLEVELAND PREMIERE at the least. Films also must not be available publicly online prior to our next festival dates. Films that have been previously screened online in an official ticketed-festival capacity are eligible for CIFF49 submission, as long as they have not been made available to audiences in the Greater Cleveland area.

*Requests for CIFF Screening Team written feedback will only be provided for submissions that pay in full, and must be made between the dates of May 1-June 1, 2025 to reviews@clevelandfilm.org. Any requests made outside of these dates do not qualify. Requested written feedback will be provided to those eligible between June 1-August 1, 2025.

Submit your film! CIFF, an Academy Award® qualifying festival for all three categories of shorts films, accepts films of all runtimes, genres, and countries.

CIFF49 Call for Entries

Call for Entries

The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) reveals this year’s spotlight films to be featured in the line-up of 300 independent films from around the globe. The 49th season runs March 27 - April 5, 2025, at Playhouse Square, followed by CIFF Streams April 6-13, 2025. Explore the complete CIFF49 Film Guide starting February 28th at clevelandfilm.org.

This year's program, curated from over 3,500 submissions, is a testament to the power of independent filmmaking. With representation from 60 countries the program schedule offers diversity in cultural perspectives, storytelling styles, and visual formats.

Mallory Martin, Artistic Director for CIFF, says, "The Festival is an opportunity for artists and audiences to connect and converse about the stories that move us – often these are stories we wouldn’t have access to if not for the Festival.”

Providing a sneak peek into what is ahead at this iconic Cleveland event, Martin and her team reveal CIFF49’s highlights, including spotlight films, world premieres, North American premieres, and U.S. premieres. Several filmmakers are also planning to attend, making their travel arrangements now.

, “A Serious Man”) makes her feature screenwriting/directorial debut with this biting comedy of manners, starring as a newly divorced sober mom who accompanies her Gen Z date to a wedding where things crash and burn (literally) as she tries to keep up with the young wedding party. 

Directed byAmy Landecker.Produced by Amy Landecker, Bradley Whitford, Valerie Stadler, Jenica Bergere, and James Portolese. English with Closed Captions. 2025. 

(Thursday, March 27 at 7:00pm, Connor Palace).

Centerpiece: MARLEE MATLIN: NOT ALONE ANYMORE 

- Marlee Matlin is an Oscar®-winning, Emmy-nominated Deaf actress, though fame came to her quite suddenly with her breakout performance in “Children of a Lesser God” at the age of 21. Learn how she fought through the naysayers and troubled, in-the-spotlight relationships to become a venerated philanthropist and a household name. 

Directed by Shoshannah Stern. Produced by Robyn Kopp, Justine Nagan, Bonni Cohen, and Shoshannah Stern. English and ASL with Open Captions. 2024.

(Tuesday, April 1 at 7:30pm, KeyBank State Theatre)

 - André Holland (“Moonlight”), Nicole Beharie (“Miss Juneteenth”), and DeWanda Wise (

) strike a perfect balance in Rachael Abigail Holder’s sensitive, wryly funny dramedy about a trio of Black friends-slash-lovers who are just trying to cope in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn. 

Directed by Rachael Abigail Holder. Produced by André Holland, Kate Sharp, Patrick Wengler, Maurice Anderson, and Liza Zusman. English. 2025. 

(Saturday, April 5 at 7:30pm, KeyBank State Theatre)

 - For generations, the government has forcefully stripped away the rights and identities of the Esk’etemc, Gitxsan, and Wet’suwet’en territories within Canada, leaving behind unceasing ripples of trauma. But as this defiant documentary shows, they’ll never strip away these tribes’ souls. 

Directed by Zaya Benazzo and Maurizio Benazzo. Produced by Zaya Benazzo, Maurizio Benazzo, and Finley MacNeil. English with Closed Captions. 2024.

(Tuesday, April 1 at 5:15pm, Allen Theatre)

 - In this experimental omnibus documentary, filmmaker Catalina Alvarez paints a picture of small-town America as she chronicles the centuries-long history of Yellow Springs, Ohio. The stories, ranging from comical to disquieting and everything in between, point to a rich community demanding to be heard. 

Directed and Produced by Catalina Alvarez. English with Closed Captions. 2025. 

(Saturday, April 5 at 5:10pm, Upper Allen)

 - As the world teeters on the edge of destruction, a roadkill collector and an excommunicated priest make their way through an apocalyptic hellscape in search of a way out. From the director of the heralded werewolf drama “Good Manners”—CIFF42 comes another genre-busting masterpiece of the surreal. 

Directed by Marco Dutra. Produced by Lourenço Sant’Anna and Rodrigo Teixeira. Portuguese and Chinese with English subtitles. 2024. 

(Thursday, April 3 at 9:45pm, Upper Allen)

 - Acclaimed writer/director Milko Lazarov (“Ága”) spins this humanistic, magical realist yarn—marvelously shot by Kaloyan Bozhilov—about a quiet, widowed villager who must protect his extraordinary, gifted daughter from the scorn and pitchforks of superstitious locals. 

Directed by Milko Lazarov. Produced by Veselka Kiryakova. Bulgarian with English subtitles. 2024.

(Thursday, April 3 at 2:35pm, Upper Allen)

 - In snowy St. Petersburg, an unlikely friendship emerges amidst political upheaval when Georgian immigrant Madea purchases an apartment for a steal—only to realize she must share the space with the curmudgeonly old Russian owner. Rusudan Glurjidze’s haunted second feature deftly navigates the refugee crisis and what it means to have your life uprooted time and time again. 

Directed by Rusudan Glurjidze. Produced by Zurab Magalashvili, Manana Shevardnadze, Andrey Epifanov, Tanya Petrik, Jussi Myllyniemi, and UschFeldges. Georgian, Russian, and English with English subtitles. 2024.

 - Filmmaker Leila Amini followed her sister Nasreen around with a camera for seven years, capturing her covert mission to become a famous singer. But an unsupportive husband, family pressure, and Iran’s oppressive stranglehold on female expression threatens Nasreen’s happiness every step of the way. 

Directed by Leila Amini. Produced by Afsaneh Salari, Vadim Jendreyko, and Leila Amini. Persian language with English subtitles. 2024. 

(Friday, March 28 at 5:15pm, Allen Theatre)

 - In this taut psychological drama about the ripples of assault, a Turkish woman is attacked at a roadhouse while on her way to her wedding in Kosovo. But the festivities must go on, and we are observers to Gülizar’s emotional turmoil of what to do, who to tell, and how to hold your head up high. 

Directed by Belkıs Bayrak. Produced by Mehmet Bahadır Er, Belkıs Bayrak, and Murat Yaşar Bayrak. Turkish and Albanian with English subtitles. 2024.

 - In this claustrophobic thriller ripped from the headlines, newlyweds Olya and Taras are just getting settled into their new Kiev home when the Russians attack. Now they must stay perfectly silent within the confines of their apartment—cut off from the outside world—without tipping off the invading forces of their presence. 

Directed by Zhanna Ozirna. Produced by Dmytro Sukhanov. Ukrainian with English subtitles. 2024. 

MY CHEST IS FULL OF SPARKS (Mi pecho está lleno de centellas)

 - Life doesn’t always go as planned. After the death of the family patriarch, mother and child go separate ways to find themselves—she crosses the ocean to pursue the singing career she left behind, while filmmaker Gal realizes they are transgender—in this collage of video diaries. 

Directed by Gal S. Castellanos. Produced by Eduardo Esquivel, Omar Robles, Metzli Paulina Ibarra, and Gal S. Castellanos. Spanish and Turkish with English subtitles. 2024. 

(Monday, March 31 at 5:20pm, Mimi Ohio Theatre)

 - The remarkable adaptation of Shuang Xuetao’s novel marks the directorial debut of actor-turned-director Dong Zijian. When a diverted flight reunites Limo with a childhood best friend, An Delie, who no longer remembers him, their journey through snowbound northeastern China unlocks long-buried memories, forcing him to confront the lingering ghosts of his past in this poignant tale of friendship, family, and forgiveness. 

Directed by Dong Zijian. Produced by Juan Wan. Mandarin with English subtitles. 2024. 

(Wednesday, April 2 at 11:50am & Thursday, April 3 at 5:00pm, KeyBank State Theatre)

 - Nothing looms over a city like the presence of death. While investigating a mysterious series of sandstorms that have laid a permanent cover over the seaside, a journalist comes face to face with his wife’s ghost—a victim of the Algerian Civil War—in this haunting science-fiction drama. 

Directed by Dania Reymond-Boughenou. Produced by Jérémy Forni and Camille Chandellier. French and Arabic with English subtitles. Audio description. 2024. 

(Saturday, April 5 at 5:05pm, Allen Theatre)

In addition to this list of highlights, the Festival is proud to share that it will continue the longstanding tradition of celebrating Ohio films and filmmakers in the category of Local Heroes, in which filmmakers with regional ties compete for a prize of $7,500.

One of the largest and longest running festivals in the country, CIFF awards a total of $130,000 in prizes. Jurors include: 

Alejandra Martinez, Bilgesu Sisman, and Lediona Kasapi 

for the George Gund III Memorial Central and Eastern European Competition; 

Cassidy Dimon, Karim Ahmad, Set Hernandez 

for the Portrait Documentary Competition; 

Jourdain Searles, Zuri Obi, and Ingrid Raphaël 

Sharon Badal, Tiffany Alexander, and Jimmy Woody

, by phone at 1.877.304.FILM, or in person starting Friday, March 7th at 11:00 am ET for members, and Friday, March 14th at 11:00 am ET for the public. Tickets can also be purchased on site at the Film Festival Box Office in the KeyBank State Theatre Lobby at Playhouse Square (based on seat availability).

 Individual tickets for in-person screenings are $18 per person, with package deals available for those planning to see multiple films.

The CIFF49 Film Guide launches February 28th with details on 300 films. Find it online at 

 or pick up a physical copy at various locations, including public libraries.

Please note: CIFF members receive a printed Film Guide as a membership benefit.

CIFF members enjoy a range of benefits, including early access to tickets and parking passes, invitations to private special events, discounts on merchandise, and more. To learn about membership or to become a member, visit 

The Cleveland International Film Festival is generously supported by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. The Festival also receives support from the Ohio Arts Council (OAC), a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically,1 through state tax dollars allocated by the Ohio Legislature.

About the Cleveland International Film Festival: Now entering its 49th year, the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to showcasing the best in independent cinema. CIFF offers year-round programming, including the annual film festival, educational initiatives, and community screenings. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit us online at www.clevelandfilm.org (http://www.clevelandfilm.org)

Media Contact: Dahlia Fisher, dahlia@clevelandfilm.org

Discover the spotlight films for the 49th Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF), featuring exciting world, North American, and U.S. premieres!  Explore 300 independent films from around the globe March 27 - April 13, 2025. Get your tickets now!

CIFF49 Spotlight Films Revealed! | Cleveland International Film Festival

CIFF49 Spotlight Films Revealed!

The Cleveland International Film Festival is now accepting
submissions for CIFF49.

Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) Announces CIFF49 Call for Entries

The Cleveland International Film Festival is proud to announce the appointment of Hermione Malone as its new Executive Director.