Cleveland International Film Festival Returns to Cedar Lee Theatre for One Evening

Jonathan Forman said he’s surprised at how successful the Cleveland International Film Festival has become.

When he started it in 1977 on one screen at the that he rented just for the event, Forman said he was just trying to share his love for the film festivals he grew up with as a teenager on Long Island.

“I thought, 'Why doesn’t Cleveland have something like that?'” he said when he moved here. “Based on my naiveté and enthusiasm, I went ahead with the experiment.”

That “experiment,” as he so humbly put it, drew several thousand people that first year, and has grown every year since. Last year the festival, which moved downtown in 1991, drew more than 70,000 moviegoers. 

Five years ago the festival returned to its roots with a showing at Cedar Lee and will continue that tradition on March 31. Starting at 5 p.m., will host a reception to prepare everyone for the big event: a viewing of With Love, From the Age of Reason at 7 p.m. at Cedar Lee. The French film features Margaret, a “hard-charging” businesswoman who sells power plants that worsen global warming to the Chinese, and one day finds a bundle of letters she wrote to herself when she was 7. The words she wrote as a child convince her she did not become the person she thought she would.

After the film it’s back to Nighttown, where anyone with a ticket to the film receives 15 percent off food. The whole event is dedicated to Rick Whitbeck, one of the founders of the festival who died in 2008.

Forman said he’s elated to have the be a part of the big show once more. When the festival board of trustees voted to move downtown to allow even more people access, he said he wasn’t comfortable. Forman thought part of the success was owed to Cleveland International Film Festival’s location.

“Cedar Lee had that reputation of being this funky, offbeat theater where quirky films were shown,” he said. “I didn’t realize how large of an appetite Cleveland had for these films. If everyone listened to me, the festival wouldn’t be half as big as it is today.”

Although Forman doesn’t give himself much credit, there’s no denying how big the festival became under his watch. That first year movies were shown every Wednesday and Thursday for eight consecutive weeks to give as many people as possible a taste of what was to be.

“I thought it was a palatable way to introduce the festival concept, and it worked,” he said.

After leading the festival for 15 years, Forman stepped down and is now president of Cleveland Cinemas, which operates theaters all over Northeast Ohio, including Cedar Lee.

The 35th annual Cleveland International Film Festival kicks off today at Tower City Cinemas and runs through April 3. For tickets, schedules and more information about the films, visit the Film Festival's website.