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Film festival is good place to be
(by Barbara Christian - October 13, 2011)
WINDOW ON MAIN STREET, BY BARBARA CHRISTIAN
Film festival is good place to be
Good news! If you are reading this before Sunday night, then you are in luck. There is still some good film festing to be part of. That would be the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival.
This is the second year for what is one of the most exciting grassroots nonprofit events the Chagrin Falls community has seen in awhile. And it is big.
Just think of it -- 25 countries represented by 99 films in five days shown in 11 venues and managed by 70 volunteers who will shepherd the 4,000 expected ticket holders, as well as the eight special events which serve as the festival's connective tissue.
Behind it all is one tiny woman, Mary Ann Ponce, a powerhouse of imagination and drive, unflappability and the spiritual leader of the festival. Her title "festival director" is just not substantial enough for her efforts, which began last winter.
Together, Mary Ann and her team have seen most of the 220 films submitted to this year's extravaganza. That's the fun part. There's also the planning and logistics, endless telephone calls, emails and details that needed to be attended to before last Tuesday's opening night.
Mary Ann, along with husband, Ed, are doing it all out of pure and unadulterated love. Not just love of the documentary genre but the love of their son, David, a documentary filmmaker who died too soon.
In her program notes, Mary Ann says, "I saw in David a courage and a passion to tell a story through the medium he loved, documentary film. The festival's directors and filmmakers share David's passion to tell a story or to make us aware of a cause."
David's film, "Lost Sparrows of Roodeport," will be shown at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Federated Church. A panel discussion centers on the theme of the human spirit and what it is capable of. In the case of David's film, it is the HIV/AIDS-afflicted orphans of, and the spirit of those who guide their home, Sparrow Village in South Africa.
David died before the film, his own labor of love, was completed. On his instructions, it was finished with the help of his friends. One of them, director Brock Carter, will speak after the film, which went on to win awards at other festivals.
His is the kind of guiding light behind the film festival being held in Chagrin Falls this week. There are 98 other stories being told, and all are worthy of your time and attention. The beauty part is you can come and go as your schedule allows. Films range from under five minutes to over an hour.
For instance, at 7 p.m. Friday at Chagrin Falls Township Hall, you can catch Dean Antoniou's "OOWOP," which, in a scant four minutes, takes a look at the art of skateboarding in South Florida and Cleveland.
At the other end of the spectrum at 96 minutes, "Unsigned," directed by Edward Payson, follows three bands that refuse to give up on their dreams and balance their rock 'n' roll aspirations with the realities of daily life. Catch it at 1 p.m. Saturday at Lowe's Audio Video, 1 W. Washington St.
There is something for every age group. Film schedules are available just about everywhere in the Chagrin Falls area. Just go. Do it. You won't be sorry.
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