Related PDF - Cleveland International Film Festival

THE
CIFF DAY 4 / SATURDAY / 3.21.2015
Sponsored by
Shedding Light on Local Lore
Photos: Elaine Manusakis
D
TOP: (From left) “Finding the Gold Within” guests Darius Simpson,
Director Karina Epperlein, Tyler Jones, and Shawntrail Smith
attend the film’s screening at the Akron-Summit County Public
Library. MIDDLE: Film subjects Isaiah Wheeler (left) and Aaron
Carey (right) meet Mayor Don Plusquellic (center) before the
film played as part of the CIFF’s Knight and Day in Akron.
Warren, Ohio, native Eric Murphy has edited for television series
“Ancient Aliens” and “America’s Book of Secrets.”
from Youngstown to surrounding districts.
After listening to countless stories of the
Congressman, Murphy decided to pursue his
film career full time in Los Angeles with the
dream of ultimately bringing Jim Traficant’s
story to the big screen.
Murphy is thrilled to show his film in
Cleveland, so close to where the events took
place so many years ago. Fortunately, with the
help of two Kickstarter campaigns and
celebrity support in Ed O’Neill of “Modern
Family” and “Married with Children,” a
former resident of Youngstown, Murphy has
been able to make his dream a reality.
“This means everything to me,” says
Murphy. “My mom, friends, and family will
all be there. It’s like coming home.”
—Amy Brown
SHOWING
TODAY
RAFICANT: THE
T
CONGRESSMAN OF
CRIMETOWN
is playing today at 6:20 p.m.
at the Akron Art Museum
Photo: Tim Safranek
irector Eric Murphy’s list of the most
talked about topics around his family’s
dinner table is an interesting one.
“Jesus Christ. JFK. Frank Sinatra. Jim
Traficant. And not necessarily in that order.”
This seemed to have been true for many
Ohio households who knew of the local
Congressman’s fame in the 1980s. For Eric
Murphy growing up in Warren, Ohio, not
only was Jim Traficant a permanent fixture in
his childhood, but he has lived and breathed
his name and legend for the last 10 years
creating “Traficant: The Congressman of
Crimetown,” a documentary on the rise and
fall of the once greatly respected and admired
Congressman of Youngstown, Ohio.
“He was a folk hero to everyone,” says
Murphy. “He was always in the news. I used
to scan the paper each morning for pictures
and headlines of Traficant. He amused me.”
When the steel mills in Youngstown could
no longer support the jobs of 50,000 of its
residents, Traficant was the voice fighting for
those struggling to get back on their feet.
Naturally, locals were inclined to praise him
for his efforts.Yet, after a slew of political
accusations and prison time, there was
plenty more of the story Murphy felt he
needed to tell.
“The biggest challenge creating this film
was to focus on one story for such a long
time and create a living document of history,”
says Murphy. Since many people learned the
ups and downs of the Traficant story through
the lens of the media, it was particularly
difficult to find all the pieces of the story
and bring multiple perspectives to light.
Murphy’s humble start in poetry writing
while attending Youngstown State University
eventually led to the creation of his own film
marketing degree. A high school acquaintance
connected him with the Tim Ryan
congressional campaign where he ran
communications and became very close with
Ryan who was previously Traficant’s driver
BOTTOM: From one H.O.G. to another. David Bowen (right), a
member of the Beijing Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.), presents
Zhang Wei, director of “Factory Boss” and Harley-Davidson
aficionado, with an official Cleveland H.O.G. leather jacket.
“Try it on,” Bowen urges Wei before the screening of his film.
DAY4 OF THE
FILM FESTIVAL
IS SPONSORED BY
Exploring a Delicate Balance
Festival Updates
M
Added Screenings:
arcy Cravat had already made several
portrait-style documentaries about
Bay Area artists when she discovered
Jason Taylor’s “ambitious, compelling artwork,”
a collection of underwater statues “housed” in
Mexico’s National Marine Park off the coast of
Cancún. She impulsively contacted Taylor, and
he agreed to let her shoot a documentary
about him.
“I think humans fantasize about living in
the ocean,” she says. “Jason’s work has universal
appeal because it transcends us into that
mysterious aqua world.”
Initially, the documentary was all about the
artist and his art. Cravat traveled to Cancún and
filmed Taylor as he created a new statue—titled
“Angel Azul”—and installed it in the underwater
exhibit. Many of the other statues had become
homes for fish, coral, and other aquatic life forms
… which had always been part of the plan.
“Nature is hugely and endlessly responsible
for my visual inspiration,” she says; “few
environments could be more inspiring.”
Midway through filming, everything changed
for Cravat when she discovered that the new
coral growing on the statues was already starting
to die. It was then that “I became aware of a
huge environmental problem,” she says, and the
focus of her documentary shifted.
Her quest to understand what was happening
to Taylor’s statues, and to the ocean as a whole,
took her to the experts.
“Because I am not a scientist,” explains Cravat,
“I brought in reputable scientists to explain the
problems and solutions, and the film became a
full-fledged environmental documentary.”
“Angel Azul” fuses Cravat’s meditations on
Taylor’s statues with her analysis of the
destructive forces threatening the oceans we
dream about. “The deeper message of the film,”
she explains, “is that everything connects.” A film
driven by an environmental crisis could have
become an excursion into alarmism, but Cravat’s
Saturday March 21st
After Hours Shorts Program 4 10:30 pm
Friday March 27th
Comedy Shorts Program 8:50 pm
Sunday March 29th
All-Stars 6:50 pm
Late Additions:
Friday March 27th
Being Evel 9:50 pm
Sunday March 29th
Being Evel 11:50 am
Check for the latest festival updates
on Twitter or Facebook. Or visit
www.clevelandfilm.org/festival/updates
Challenge Match
The Challenge Match is the CIFF’s annual
fundraising campaign, and the only time of
the year that we ask for your support (we do
not send out solicitation letters at any time).
The challenge to you – our audience – is to
raise $125,000, which will be matched by
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
We are $24,119 closer to
reaching our goal of $125,000
A $10 DONATION QUALIFIES YOU FOR
ONE OF THESE FABULOUS PRIZES!!
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM(S): Your family
can visit the area’s most popular
museums with family memberships for
the Botanical Garden and Zoo and tickets
for the Rock Hall and Aquarium.
THE ROCKER: Enjoy a weekend downtown
with tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame & Museum, an overnight stay at the
Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, and a meal
at the Hard Rock Cafe!
A NIGHT AT THE RITZ: Enjoy a relaxing
Sunday with a night at The Ritz-Carlton,
Cleveland! Included in the package are
overnight accommodations, unlimited
in-room movies, a $50 in-room dining
credit, and more.
SHOWING
TODAY
ANGEL AZUL
is playing today at 4:10 p.m.
ONLINE
Visit The Daily online edition at
www.clevelandfilm.org/festival/the-daily.
TODAY’S ONLINE VERSION INCLUDES:
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
The Cleveland International Film Festival receives public
support with local tax dollars from Cuyahoga Arts &
Culture, to preserve and enrich our region’s artistic and
cultural heritage.
belief in humanity’s
creative spirit is
unwavering: these are
problems that she not
only believes we must
solve, but also knows
we can.To her,Taylor’s statues “symbolize our
role as a species to correct our mistakes.”Their
beauty is a beauty that all humanity can achieve
if we are willing.
Cravat is already filming her next
documentary, “Dirt Rich,” which she believes
contains a possible answer to the quandaries she
uncovered while filming “Angel Azul.” It should
be another life-changer. In the meantime, she
hopes that Taylor’s spectacular statues will help
show the world that “living in concert with the
natural systems, rather than dominating them, is
really our only hope for our species to survive on
this planet,” and that none of the true beauty of
life has to be sacrificed to make that possible.
—Lara Klaber
THE
Stop by the Challenge Match table in the
Tower City Cinemas lobby to donate.
• Fiddlesticks (Playing today at 5:15 p.m.)
Veit Helmer recalls his early inspiration to make
films.
Photo: Jason Miller
Official Airline of the 39th CIFF
TOP: Jason Taylor’s
underwater artwork was
what inspired Marcy Cravat
to make this film. RIGHT:
Marcy Cravat co-founded
Arti-docs, a production
company specializing in
documentaries about artists.
• The Road Within (Playing today at 6:00 p.m.)
Gren Wells strives to capture the essence of
“Vincent Wants to Sea” in an English-language
adaptation.
THE HOME FOR INSPIRATION
(From left) “All Stars” producer James Portolese, director Lance Kinsey,
and actors Miriam Flynn and Fred Willard attended a screening
of their film at Chagrin Cinemas. The group were also guests at a
reception at BrownFlynn on the 36th floor of the Terminal Tower.
• The Wolfpack (Playing today at 7:20 p.m.)
Crystal Moselle describes her filmmaking journey.
• Coverage of Knight and Day in Akron.