Get your popcorn ready — just don’t grease up your phone. The Cleveland International Film Festival released its 2020 schedule on its website this morning.
The festival, which runs from March 25-April 5 at Tower City Cinemas, Cedar Lee Theater and The Capitol Theater in Gordon Square, features more than 400 films from more than 80 countries, including 212 feature films and 227 short films. More films are expected to be added.This will also be the final year at Tower City before the festival permanently moves to Playhouse Square in 2021.
The 44th annual event opens March 25 at the Key Bank State Theater with a special screening of Military Wives, a film about a diverse group of women whose partners are serving in Afghanistan. Dream Horse, a film about a Welsh bartender who decides to get into race horses, closes the event at Tower City Cinemas on April 5, followed by the Closing Night Ceremony around the Tower City fountain.
For a taste of local filmmaking, catch How Far Is Home, which takes viewers inside a Cleveland school for immigrants during President Donald Trump’s immigration ban; Forest City Blues, a documentary shot by students at St. Edward High School; and short film Cleveland Cavaliers: Enter The Cavaliers, an exploration of the 50-year-old team’s earliest days. Ferenj: A Graphic Memoir In VR is a virtual reality experience that explores the memories of a mixed race Ethiopian-American growing up in Cleveland’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood.
Members can purchase tickets at 11 a.m. on March 6, while tickets go on sale to the public on March 13 at 11 a.m. Tickets are $14 per screening for members and $16 per screening for non-members.
You can sign up to become a member at clevelandfilm.org/membership. Members will receive print program guides in the mail March 2, and they can also be picked up at various spots around Cleveland.
Read More: We talked to one of CIFF’s most dedicated volunteers Jana Friess, who took part in her 40th film festival in 2019, about what the event means to her.