Sal Calls It a Wrap...

I'm always a little sad when the Film Festival ends, but also a bit relieved.  My poor posterior needs to recover from the painful experience of many hours sitting on the terribly lumpy seats at Tower City Cinema!  (Note to Cleveland Cinemas: I love you, but please replace those seats with comfy ones!)  This year I saw many wonderful films -- and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Here are some highlights of Sal's last visits to the 38th CIFF.

My sister is always game for a fun acting gig.  As a passholder, I could enter and spend time in the Hospitality Room, which has chairs and tables -- and free snacks!  Poor Anne, as a lowly ticket holder, was not permitted to go through those doors.  I asked her to act unhappy about this, and she did a fine job! 

Another fine acting job by Anne!

Nicole, one of the fabulous Cleveland Jumping Fleas, posing with Sal by the board indicating showtimes.  We saw The Winding Stream together.  What a great film!

My friend Barb and Sal with one of the GuitarMania guitars on display at Tower City.  We saw two films together -- both of which were amazing.  We would both highly recommend Heart of a Lion and Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine.

This gentleman played a violent neo-Nazi in the compelling Heart of a Lion.  In real life he seems like a very nice guy, as evidenced by his willingness to pose with Sal.

After seeing the super-entertaining Just About Famous, I was excited to see that two of the film's featured impersonators were at the CIFF!  Obviously Sal had to have her photo taken with them. 

This is not the sort of young lady Mr. Hefner usually poses with, and I believe he thought I was quite nutty, but he posed with Sal anyway.

Maurice Reedus Jr. with Sal.  Everybody who goes downtown has seen him playing at sporting events and in front of the Playhouse Square theaters.  The film about him -- The Sax Man --  won the Local Heroes Award.

A bunch of Film Fest chums hanging out with Sal at the closing ceremonies.

Conclusions about this year's Cleveland International Film Festival:
1.  It was awesome!  Most of the films I saw were very good to excellent.  My love of documentaries and road pictures is confirmed.
2.  Because I had some sort of coughing/sneezing/blechy virus, I had to scale back my attendance from last year's average of five films per day.  My total this year was only 44 feature films and one shorts program.  Next year I plan to avoid all sick people pre-Film Fest. 
3.  Sal had her photo taken with lots of cool people.  I know I could get even more pictures of her with Film Fest luminaries if I brought her every day.  Maybe I will do that next year, even though it's a pain to carry so much stuff.
4.  The Festival ended with a wonderful new beginning -- the birth of my first grandchild!  You can be sure that Sal's future travels will often lead her to Sophia's house!


And last, but not least, the rest of my Facebook apre-film posts for the cinema obsessed:

Transfusion = Interesting subject (food trucks) + too long + too repetitive.
A Simple Piece of Paper = Touching multi-hanky documentary about adoptees receiving their birth certificates.
The Dark Matter of Love = Excellent documentary about a family adopting three children from Russian orphanages. Word to the wise = Not a good idea if you can't afford long-term professional help.
The Winding Stream = Excellent music-rich documentary about the Carter family. 
Hopeless Hopeful = Very clever + extremely entertaining + bank robbery comedy + cupcakes!
Deep City: the Birth of the Miami Sound = OK documentary + a bit disjointed.
Sex, Drugs and Taxation = There was a long wait between two films, so I decided to watch the beginning of this and skip the other movie if I really liked this one + I didn't.  (I didn't include this in my total of films seen, because I saw only about 1/4 of it.)
Monk With a Camera = Slow, but very interesting + great photography.
The Dog = Fascinating + funny documentary about the Dog Day Afternoon bank robber.
West = Outstanding + suspenseful + Iron Curtain drama.
The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne = Super entertaining + very funny + documentary about a notorious jewel thief.
Here Was Cuba = Cuban missile crisis + pretty good film.
A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power, and Jayson Blair at the New York Times = Very interesting + too drowsy to completely enjoy 5th film of the day.
The Cooler Bandits = Very mixed feelings + cue the debate on crime and punishment.
Slingshot = Fascinating + inspiring!
Jingle Bell Rocks = A jolly good time!
Just About Famous = Super-fun documentary about celebrity impersonators.    
Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine = Absolutely heart-rending. A theater full of tears... 
Heart of a Lion = Powerful drama.
3 Autumns, 2 Winters = Strange French film + many people leaving theater saying things like "that's an hour and a half of my life I will never get back." 
Clownwise = Hard to describe + I liked it.
Rich Hill = Extremely depressing
To Be Takei = Entertaining + uplifting + funny
Sex(ed) = Hilarious      

Farewell, 38th CIFF.  Sal and I can't wait for the 39th!