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    Columbus International Film & Video Festival Turns 65

    The Columbus International Film & Video Festival turns 65 this year. That’s old.

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    But, you know, Bruce Springsteen is 67, and he’s still performing sold out, four-hour Bossapaloozas. What is CIFF Executive Director Jeremy Henthorn’s plan for keeping the festival as vital as a Springsteen show?

    “Every year you have to look at what’s out in the world, then make decisions based on that, on how you want to expand,” he says.

    Henthorn predicts a growing interest in virtual reality, augmented reality, dome filmmaking and the like, and he hopes to keep up. One change for this year is a focus on Ohio ties.

    “It’s difficult to theme a festival that takes submissions, because you never know what you’re going to get,” Henthorn said.

    So he didn’t. According to Henthorn, as he started to look at the best of the submissions, he noticed a trend: films made in or by filmmakers from Ohio.

    “A lot of people that weren’t even from Ohio were shooting in Columbus, or had gone to OSU or gone to Otterbein or CCAD, or they had some connection to the city,” he said. “So it kind of was an organic situation, which I think is generally the best way it can happen.”

    As they have in the past, CIFF co-presents certain films with other notable local film festivals: Columbus Black International Film Festival, Columbus Jewish Film Festival and LGBTFest.

    “We’re coming to a point with cinema that I feel it’s going to be very important to allow people to hear as many different voices as we can, and this was our way of trying to do that, trying to showcase that there was so much going on in Columbus,” Henthorn said. “There are so many voices at the table. There are so many people trying to bring art to the city.”

    Henthorn said the co-branding of the festivals grew from the submissions he was seeing, friendships with those involved in other local festivals, and a desire to share the attention.

    “I think a mutual need is to make sure these films get the spotlight they deserve,” he said. “Working together with each festival respectively helps to do that.”

    It’s just one more way to shake off the rust.

    “I guess the way you keep it vital is you keep one eye in the present and one eye in the future,” he said. “And you always attempt to adjust for what’s coming next.”

    The Columbus International Film & Video Festival runs April 19 – 23. For tickets, showtimes and information, please visit CCAD.edu.

    Full festival line up:

    Opening Night
    Signature Move, director: Jennifer Reeder
    Wednesday, April 19 | 7 p.m. | Wexner Center for the Arts
    Featuring an opening reception with hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar, starting at 5:30 p.m., and a Q&A with director Jennifer Reeder following the screening of the film.

    Shorts Block 1
    International Shorts
    Thursday, April 20 | 4:30 – 6 p.m. | CCAD Screening Room Featuring critically acclaimed short films by filmmakers from around the world.
    Memory, director: Ilirjan Himaj
    Tell Tale, director: Alex Zou
    Angel, director: Juan Martin Torruco
    The Bouquet, director: Allen & Smithee
    Dryad, director: Thomas Vernay
    Pegah, director: Javid Rezai

    Shorts Block 2
    Student and CCAD Shorts
    Thursday, April 20 | 6:15 – 8:15 p.m. | CCAD Screening Room

    A selection of the best student work from around the world and at CCAD.
    Spilt Milk, director: James Dunstan
    Millimeterle, director: Pascal Reinmann
    There’s a Bluebird in my Heart, director: Simon Trevorrow
    Weekday Love, director: Gina Kelly
    The Gift of the Woods, director: Kris Theorin
    Scent of Geranium, director: Naghmeh Farzaneh
    Icarus, director: Tom Teller

    Block 3
    Not-Quite-Midnight Shorts
    Thursday, April 20 | 8:30 – 9:45 p.m. | CCAD Screening Room

    A mix of dark subject matter and dark humor in this late-night block.
    Cake, director: Anne Hu
    Incendio, director: Slater Dixon
    Thresher, director: Alex Clark
    Gwilliam, director: Brian Lonano
    Crow Hand!!! director: Brian Lonano
    Killer Recipe, director: Chadwick Whitehead
    Birdlime, director: Evan DeRushie
    Panic Attack!, director: Eileen O’Meara
    About Death, director: Eunjae Lee
    The FBI Blew Up My Ice Skates, directors: Lindsey Martin and Sara Zia Ebrahimi
    Mr. Blue, director: Matthew MacCarthy

    Pushing Dead, director: Tom E. Brown
    Thursday, April 20 | 7 p.m. | Drexel Theatre
    Sponsored by LGBTFest

    Ohio Features
    Dead Draw, director: Brian Klemesrud
    Friday, April 21 | 6 – 7:30 p.m. | CCAD Screening Room

    Ohio Features
    Cheshire, Ohio: An American Coal Story in 3 Acts, director: Eve Morgenstern
    Friday, April 21 | 7 – 8:30 p.m. | CCAD Auditorium

    Ohio Features
    The Street Where We Live, director: John Whitney
    Friday, April 21 | 8:30 – 10 p.m. | CCAD Screening Room

    Saturday Morning Cartoons From Around the World
    Saturday, April 22 | 10 – 11:15 a.m. | CCAD Auditorium
    Featuring family-friendly cartoons from around the world.

    Doc Shorts
    Saturday, April 22 | 1 – 2:30 p.m. | CCAD Screening Room

    A selection of the best short-subject documentaries.
    The Other Side, director: Griselda San Martin
    The Ocularist, director: Chelsie Corso
    Gotta Groove Records, director: Nick Cavalier
    Every Ghost Has an Orchestra, director: Shayna Connelly
    Arc of Justice, directors: Mark Lipman and Helen S. Cohen

    Sports Block
    Saturday, April 22 | 2 – 3:30 p.m. | CCAD Auditorium

    A selection of sports-subject documentaries from Ohio filmmakers.
    The Other Eleven, director: Michael W. Mullen II
    Capoeira – Live the Game, director: Eric Joddy Matthews
    Life Goals, director: Chelsae Ketchum

    Scent, director: Will Klein
    We Are Mary, director: Julie Wiles
    Saturday, April 22 | 3:30 – 5 p.m. | CCAD Screening Room

    Shorts Block
    Saturday, April 22 | 6 – 7:30 p.m. | CCAD Screening Room Sponsored by the Columbus Black International Film Festival

    A selection of narrative and documentary shorts created by, starring, or about people of African descent.
    Foreshadow, directors: The Turner Brothers (Julien and Justen Turner)
    After School, director: Kyle Morrison
    Pangaea, director: Olivia Peace
    The Letter Carrier, directors: Jesse L. Martin, Rick Cosnett
    White Face, director: Mtume Gant
    Mission, director: Celia C. Peters

    The JJ Project, director: Matt Starr
    Still Sophie, director: Caroline Knight
    Saturday, April 22 | 12:45 – 2:45 p.m. | Drexel Theatre

    Shorts Block 4
    Ohio Shorts
    Saturday, April 22 | 3 – 5:30 p.m. | Drexel Theatre

    A selection of the best short films from Ohio filmmakers.
    Flush the John, director: Bianca Jamotte
    Texican, director: Allyson West
    Mayfield, director: Zach Daulton
    Lapses, director: Adam Mark Brown
    Among Wolves, director: Zach Frankart
    The Archivist, director: Gino Pasi
    Changing Cars, director: Jack Campise
    Restocked, director: Dylan Bradshaw
    The (Secret) Parks of Dublin…Ohio, director: Eric Homan

    Strad Style, director: Stefan Avalos
    Saturday, April 22 | 6 – 8:30 p.m. | Drexel Theatre Strad Style

    Looking for the Jackalope, director: Karl Shefelman
    Saturday, April 22 | 9 – 10:45 p.m. | Drexel Theatre

    Nana, director: Serena Dykman
    Sunday, April 23 | 4 – 6 p.m. | Drexel Theatre
    Sponsored by the Columbus Jewish Film Festival

    Read more from Hope at MADDWOLF and listen to her horror movie podcast, FRIGHT CLUB.

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    Hope Madden
    Hope Maddenhttps://columbusunderground.com
    Hope Madden is a freelance contributor on Columbus Underground who covers the independent film scene, writes film reviews and previews film events.
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