Happy as a clam, a lark, a kid in a candy store. It’s only ten days until the first full day of screenings at the Cleveland International Film Festival, and I am READY!
The 35th CIFF guide arrived in my mailbox a couple of Wednesdays ago, and by that evening I had placed check marks next to the 83 films that sounded interesting to me. The next step was to plot them on the schedule in the center pages of the guide. Uh-oh, here comes the hard part—lots of conflicts, choices will have to be made. How to choose? What if I choose duds? That’s two hours out of my life that I’ll never get back.
“Relax, kid, go with your instincts,” said the little voice in my head. “Remember that last year you disliked only one film out of the 20 you saw.”
To help narrow the field, I looked at the Sidebar categories in the guide. These cover a range of topics and interests, such as Women of the World (films about empowered women); American Independents (big dreams/small budget films); Film Is Art (artists and the artistic process), and more. Then there are the films entered in the Standing Up (films celebrating justice and activism) and Central/Eastern European competitions—all clearly marked in the guide. So many films, so little time.
I’m remembering the films that I loved so much from the last three festivals: “Cow” last year, “Cherry Blossoms” in 2009, and “Bliss” in 2008.
It’s almost showtime and I will leave a few blank spaces on my schedule, to be filled by word-of-mouth recommendations during the festival.
CIFF, here I come!
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