Nesnadny + Schwartz
Documentary Film Competition
 The CIFF is proud to present the third Nesnadny + Schwartz Documentary Film Competition. In 2005, after CIFF attendees voted documentaries as the winners of its audience choice award for three consecutive years, we decided to highlight these films since they hold such enormous interest for our attendees.

Nesnadny + Schwartz is a preeminent international visual communications consultancy committed to providing clients what they least expect. Nesnadny + Schwartz is very proud to continue their support of the Cleveland Film Society and to sponsor a program that has such social, artistic, and popular appeal.

Films included in this year's Documentary Film Competition are:

Bomb It! (USA)
Chasin' Gus' Ghost (USA)
The Cool School (USA)
Dirty Country (USA)
Fighting For Life(USA)
The First Saturday in May (USA)
JUMP! (USA)
The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories (Bulgaria, USA, Germany)
One Bad Cat: The Reverend Albert Wagner Story (USA)
One Man in the Band (United Kingdom)
Out of Time (Austria)
The Pixar Story (USA)
Public Enemy: Welcome to the Terrordome (USA)
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (USA)



Central and Eastern European Film Competiton
The Cleveland International Film Festival’s special focus on films from Central and Eastern Europe, the homelands of many Clevelanders, was launched nearly 20 years ago. When we began our series the world was a very different place: the Berlin Wall was still standing, the U.S.S.R. was still one country, and the Cold War was chilling out. Throughout the years, the films from Central and Eastern Europe have changed dramatically due to filmmakers exerting their rights to make films without government interference. We now see films from all genres, including colorful comedies, slice-of-life sketches, and unusual love stories. The results are a look inside the lives of the ordinary as well as the extraordinary.

Our commitment to bringing the most sought after films from this area of the world to Cleveland has remained unchanged and for the fourth year, the CIFF is proud to present its Central and Eastern European Competition. This competition not only gives recognition to the films coming to us from Central and Eastern Europe, but it also awards one filmmaker a cash prize that will be announced at the Closing Night Reception.

Sponsored by:
George Gund III and Lara Lee

Films included in this year's Central and Eastern European Film Competition are:

Armin (Croatia, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Cargo 200 (Russia)
The Class (Estonia)
Iska's Journey (Hungary)
Roming (Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia)
The Russian Triangle (Georgia, Russia)
Savior's Square (Poland)
Teddybear (Czech Republic)
Time to Die (Poland)
The Trap (Serbia, Germany, Hungary)
Travelling With Pets (Russia)
Vogelfrei (Latvia)
Which Way Today (Bulgaria)



Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Film Competition
The selections included in Standing Up are films with a conscience. Standing Up celebrates social justice and activism by presenting films with messages that cannot and should not be ignored. Thanks to the generosity of The George Gund Foundation, Standing Up will remain as a permanent piece of our festival programming. An endowment grant in memory of Greg Gund has secured not only the permanence of the Standing Up section, but also a $5,000 cash prize associated with Standing Up (the winner to be determined by audience vote). Standing Up honors those with a different view of the world we live in and the continual fight to make it a better world. Standing Up honors the memory of Greg Gund.

Sponsored by:
The George Gund Foundation
Baker Hostetler

Films included in this year's Standing Up Film Competition are:

All of Us (USA)
Battle in Seattle (USA)
Ben X (Belgium/Netherlands)
Bing Ai (China)
Flow (USA)
The Galilee Eskimos (Israel)
Iron Ladies of Liberia (USA/Liberia)
Jerusalem is Proud to Present (Israel)
Katyn (Poland)
Knowledge is the Beginning (Germany/Palestine)
Mountain Top Removal (USA)
The Orange Chronicles (USA/Ukraine)
The Planet (Sweden)
Return Of The Cuyahoga (USA)
She's A Boy I Knew (Canada)<476 The Suicide Tourist (Canada)
Swing State (USA)
Torn From The Flag (USA, Hungary)
Triage: Dr. James Orbinski's Humanitarian Dilemma (Canada)
Up The Yangtze (Canada, China)
View From the Bridge: Stories from Kosovo (USA/Kosovo)
Walk to Beautiful (Ethiopia/USA)
Wild Horse Redemption (Canada)



The Roxanne T. Mueller Audience Choice Award for Best Film
Roxanne T. Mueller served as the film critic at the Plain Dealer from 1983 until 1988, when she lost a six-month battle with cancer at the age of 35. Mueller was a strong supporter of the Festival and through her writing helped to raise the general level of film appreciation in Cleveland. She was an exceptionally engaging writer who managed to weave personal insights into her film reviews, whether she was covering popular Hollywood fare or sophisticated foreign cinema. In its 12th year, the CIFF established The Plain Dealer Roxanne T. Mueller Audience Choice Award for Best Film to help bring this important festival friend back into focus a bit each year. Festival patrons rate each film they see and the most popular film is announced shortly after the Festival closes.

Sponsored by:
Cleveland Magazine




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