The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
CIFF44 Reinvented gives film fest new online life
A month after the coronavirus pandemic cancelled the 44th annual Cleveland International Film Festival, aka CIFF44, the event that normally attracts more than 100,000 attendees has reemerged.
A byproduct of the stay-at-home order finds many similar attractions, performing-arts entities, museums and nonprofits offering online programming to maintain their presences, as well as keep the public entertained.
Such is the case with what’s being called CIFF44 Reinvented, which is offering its loyal followers some semblance of a film festival — albeit from the safety of their own homes.
The initiative has CIFF44 merchandise for sale, the fest’s trailer and a fundraising campaign. However, in many ways, it’s the new CIFF Streams that’s a game changer this spring and, perhaps, going forward.
“So far we’ve announced CIFF Alum Streams, which is a specific page on our website listing where you can see festival films from the last several years streaming on platforms such as Netflix, PBS and Amazon Prime Video,” Cleveland International Film Festival Associate Director Patrick Shepherd said. “The extraordinary thing in the digital era is that there is so much content out there. Also, there’s no additional cost if you already subscribe to a service or have a library card and can use Kanopy.”
The Alum Streams site has a sortable database of previous CIFF movies dating back to 2013.
Then there’s the CIFF Streams offering. Beginning April 15, the festival will offer viewers a two-week opportunity to screen the vast majority of CIFF44 films — 212 feature films and 227 short films — previously scheduled to appear at this year’s cancelled 12day festival.
“We’re currently in the process of essentially regaining the temporary licenses to screen films we had for CIFF44,” Shepherd said. “Of course, we’re not able to secure all of those licenses. Everything is done on a case-by-case basis, essentially.
“Every film has either a different distributor or somebody who is managing the distribution of that film. What we’re finding is many filmmakers normally
wouldn’t have agreed are doing so because of the very uncertain circumstances.”
The cost associated with CIFF44 Streams varies from $8 per 24-hour stream of a film to CIFF membership beginning at $75 offering unlimited viewing during the two-week program. Also, CIFF44 Streams is only available to Ohio residents.
“We very much want to see how (CIFF44 Streams) goes this year,” Shepherd said. “We do think that it could very well be part of our future — and the future of many film festivals.
“It does honestly increase
access. Maybe some people aren’t able to make it to downtown Cleveland to see a film, but they’d still be glad to pay and watch in the comfort of their own home. Everything is on the table as we look forward.”
Part of looking forward is somewhat bittersweet for CIFF, which was supposed to spend this year’s event saying goodbye to its home for 30 years, Tower City Cinemas, before relocating next year into its new permanent location at Playhouse Square.
“It truly was sad we’re not able to celebrate our 30th and final year at Tower
City,” Shepherd said. “Tower City has been an incredible place to have a festival for all of those years.
“It was just a great gathering place for independent and international film lovers, but we’re looking forward to next year’s festival April 7 to 18 at Playhouse Square — the second-largest performing-arts district in the country. We can’t think of a more vibrant and exciting arts-and-cultural environment to be in as we move on to the next phase of the festival’s life.”