SOME LOCAL FILM EVENTS WORTH CHECKING OUT

Okay folks, wanted to give you a little heads up into some interesting happenings in the world of film coming up in the next few weeks.

This is the time of year that the Cleveland International Film Festival is upon us. Like people gear up and get into the spirit of Christmas, it’s around this time of year I start getting visions of little film reels dancing in my head as I lye in bed waiting for the gift of offbeat cinema to hit Tower City Cinemas for a week. While the Festival showcases films from around the world, there are a few local films that are playing that really deserve to be seen and I figured since I have a bit of a voice with the radio gig and this little spot right here, I would showcase a few of them.

Pinned
Where: Cleveland International Film Festival
When: March 19th @ 4:45 PM
March 20th @ 11:20 AM
March 25th @ 7:15 PM (at the Capitol Theater)

What a refreshing documentary. I have never been much of a wrestling fan, and never really figured that I would care about a movie devoted to telling the stories of the kids who are into it, but this locally produced film that chronicles the lives of high school wrestlers from St. Eds, St Ignatius as well as some public schools is quite watchable. Pinned is informative and enlightening without having an agenda or preaching a philosophy to the viewer. In this time of loaded docs that seem more like pushing a particular idea rather than staying objective, Pinned is welcomed entry. There are hundreds of stories that could come out of this film, but the filmmakers wisely chose to stay on a path that doesn’t glorify or demonize any particular participants that are involved in this film. Support your local filmmakers and check it out!

Out of Place
Where: Cleveland International Film Festival
When: March 19th @ 9:35 PM
March 21st @ 9:20 AM
March 22nd@ 5:00 PM

Are you in need of a love letter to Cleveland and the quirky, eccentric souls who live there? How about if these characters also have a desire…no…a need to go out in the middle of Winter to go surf lake Erie? Well that’s what the documentary Out of Place is dealing with. I have already seen this one, but I am definitely going to try and make time to see this on the big screen with a auditorium full of people. It’s that kind of movie; unabashedly in love with its subject and not afraid to show it. I know the festival hasn’t started yet, but I predict that this will be one of the biggest crowd pleasers of the whole event.

Now, aside from the festival there are some other things playing locally that I think are certainly worth checking out.

Hausu
Where: Cleveland Cinematheque (the Russell B. Aiken auditorium within the Cleveland Institute of Art)
When: March 26th @ 8:45 PM
March 27th @ 7:00 PM

I love Horror movies. I am a Horror movie freak, and like most horror freaks I go nuts when I hear of a horror movie that has escaped my knowledge. Well imagine my surprise when I heard that The Cleveland Cinematheque was going to be showing a little Japanese picture called Hausu. Not only had I never heard of it, but it was made in 1971! I am feeling deep shame for never having had the opportunity till now to see this apparent diamond in the rough, but its not really my fault. You see, Hausu has never been available in America. The only way to see it (until now) was bootlegs from a German DVD without English subtitles. Since I don’t know how to speak German (what was I doing for three years in German language classes in high school?). Now I don’t know too much about this movie except for the fact that it involves every kind of special effect that was available in 1971 (optical effects, animation, lots of fake blood), a bloodthirsty piano and an evil housecat. I am taking that knowledge into the theater with me and I hope someone out there reading this is filled with the same inquisitive nature and is sitting near me on the 26th. If I can’t lure you in with words, then here’s the trailer. And thanks again to the Cleveland Cinematheque for never failing to bring some of the most interesting films to the Cleveland area.

Raiders of the Lost Ark
Where: Cleveland Museum of Art (Gartner Auditorium)
When: April 10th @ 1:30 PM

The Cleveland Museum of Art is re-christening their refurbished Gartner auditorium with a showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I guess if you want to show off your newly rehabbed room, there is no better way than showing Steven Spielberg’s 1981 classic. You don’t need to know what its about, you just need to be there and enjoy this film on the big screen (with a real 35mm print!). Trust me, it’s better that way.