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