Latest news with #ClevelandInternationalFilmFestival
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Creating images from audio: Catalina Alvarez's ‘Sound Spring'
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — Catalina Alvarez spoke with to discuss her experimental documentary, 'Sound Spring,' ahead of it's premiere at the Cleveland International Film Festival. Yellow Springs documentary to debut at long-running festival In 'Sound Spring,' Catalina Alvarez explores the sources and casualties of sound and speech. Characters lip-sync or speak alongside recorded versions of their stories. Some mouth the speech of other people. Some speak over playback of their own voices. Some lip-sync to loops of themselves speaking. The filmmakers behind 'Sound Spring,' via press release. For Alvarez, 'Sound Spring,' is an exploration of how people tell stories. 'I like the sound of how people tell you a story. And so I had a concept,' Alvarez says. 'I knew that first I was going to record audio only interviews and then these interviews would record people telling a historical story that was personal to them, that had some — that they were personally connected to and that how they told it would become part of the experience of the story, their unique telling of it.' The film is also an ode to Yellow Springs. Just as quickly as she discovered the concept for the film, Alvarez knew that the documentary would feature history from the village. 'This is not a film that tries to be in any in any way comprehensive about its history. It's an experimental film. It's a film depicting some people's histories of Yellow Springs. But I think it's my ode to the village. My portrait of this incredible village.' How the project would add images to its audio-only stories; however, would happen much later, in post-production. Initially, Alvarez considered having the interviewees lip sync their audio alongside their on-screen performance. 'I thought there was a lot of potential for playing creatively with dividing the sound from the image. But in this case, people would just tell their stories and and then I would add the image, rather than the other way around, as it's done in Hollywood. And the other thing about my technique was that I wanted to get to know Yellow Springer's, people from yellow Springs, and I wanted to work with them.' Alvarez conducted nearly all of the interviews herself, which were done between January and March 2019. This work saw her speak with several residents including Karen McKee, Paul Graham, Rose Pelzl, Charles Arthur Williams, Shane Creepingbear, Anne Bohlen, Donna Denman, Jalyn Roe and Talon Silverhorn. After the interviews were completed, Alvarez wrote a script for the visual component of the film. One of the interviewees, Jalyn Roe, didn't want to film her portion of the film, so Alvarez searched for young women who could embody the ages described in her stories. One of those residents was Sumayah Chappelle, the niece of Dave Chappelle. 'I found Sumayah because Jayln Roe had done her audio interview and was not — not thinking she was up to doing, staging a visual scene after that, but was like, you can do whatever you want with the audio interview.' Sumayah's aunt recommended her for the opportunity. Rukiya Robertson also participated in the scenes based off Roe's audio stories. The other interviewees partook in filming the audio stories. Filming took place between May and June of 2019. After the cameras rolled, there was a bit of a lull period, thanks in part to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Alvarez took part in a residency with the Wexner Center for the Arts. It was here where the scope of the film was enhanced. 'They would spend like 3 hours with me just on one meeting, talking about a cut. And through my conversation with them, I started to think maybe I did need more footage,' Alvarez says. 'A lot of the footage that I'd gotten was in people's homes and didn't show Yellow Springs, the village, enough.' Filming restarted in 2021. From that point, she obtained more stories and footage that expressed Yellow Springs history, as well as the stories of the indigenous peoples who lived in the village before the Ohio Trail of Tears. That history was available thanks to Antioch professor Richard Kraince, who put her in contact with Talon Silverhorn. Silverhorn is a citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and is also the Cultural Programs Manager at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. He's been an interpreter since 2007. In early 2022, Alvarez was close to giving birth to her child and was away from Yellow Springs. She still needed to film Silverhorn's stories for the documentary, which is when Sumayah stepped up to the director's chair, coordinating with Alvarez to capture the scenes. All of the work to capture the film in this way was worth it for Alvarez though, as she wanted to present an authentic portrait of the village. 'One of the interesting challenges in filmmaking, especially fictional filmmaking, if speaking of fiction and documentary is getting realistic performance from actors. So in a way, by recording real audio interviews, I was ensuring that there was no stagenous in the acting, because it's not acting. So, even if they are performing in a very performative way, everything they're saying is real.' 'Sound Spring,' is premiering on Saturday, April 5 at 5:10 p.m. The film will be available for Ohio viewers to purchase and watch via CIFF Streams. The purchase window opens on April 6 and closes April 13. Click here to learn more about the film, to see it's full list of contributors and to even see its trailer. Catalina Alvarez is a professor at Fordham University. She teaches in the Art and Engagement program. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
28-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Cleveland International Film Festival begins rolling on 49th year
The Cleveland International Film Festival rolled out the red carpet Thursday night to kick off its 49th annual event. Why it matters: The fest is one of Northeast Ohio's marquee cultural events, drawing over 70,000 attendees between Playhouse Square screenings and online streams. CIFF is so highly regarded that it was the reason local tourism leaders opted not to bid on hosting the Sundance Film Festival. State of play: The festival's opening night film, "For Worse," screened at Connor Palace. In-person screenings of more than 100 feature films and nearly 200 shorts will take place through April 5. See the full list The big picture: This year's "Centerpiece" film is "Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore," a documentary about the Oscar-winning actress who starred in 1986's "Children of a Lesser God." The film screens at 7:30pm Tuesday at KeyBank State Theatre. Zoom in: A few of this year's movies have Northeast Ohio ties, including "The Beldham," starring Bay Village native Patricia Heaton of "Everybody Loves Raymond" fame. There's also "The Debutantes," a doc that follows three young Black women participating in a debutante ball revival in Canton. If you go: Tickets for individual screenings start at $18 ($16 for CIFF members). What's next: A curated selection of films will be viewable online through the CIFF Streams program from April 6-13. Streaming tickets start at $14 ($12 for members). Here's a look at five more films worth checking out: "Following Harry" When: 2:25pm, March 30 at Mimi Ohio Theatre. The documentary follows 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Harry Belafonte during the final decade of his life as he reflects on his work in film, music and civil rights. "The Stamp Thief" When: 12:05pm March 28 and 7:30pm March 30 at Mimi Ohio Theatre. Under the guise of filming a movie, "Seinfeld" producer Gary Gilbert brings a film crew to Poland to recover valuable stamps stolen by a Nazi officer during the Holocaust. "Taste the Revolution" When: 2:35pm April 2 and 7:30pm April 3 at Mimi Ohio Theatre. Oscar winner Mahershala Ali stars in a mockumentary about an activist planning a world summit in the early 2000s that goes wrong. "Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts." The documentary visits businesses that have found success in buildings that once housed Pizza Hut restaurants. "Didn't Die"
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Yellow Springs documentary to debut at long-running festival
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — An experimental documentary will premiere its official cut at the Cleveland International Film Festival. 'Sound Spring,' is a film by Catalina Alvarez that features 8 vignettes that showcase the history of Yellow Springs. The film moves through visuals and narration from Yellow Springs residents. For example, in one scene, a person reads the village's water meters while rollerblading. In another, the interviewee stands on his head while in a breakdancing freeze. Dave Chappelle's niece, Sumayah Chappelle, is one of many memorable residents featured in the film. Others include Tecumseh and Coretta Scott King. Sundance Film Festival gives cold shoulder to Cincy, moving to Colorado The film will premiere at the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) on Saturday, April 5. The premiere screening will begin at 5:10 p.m. The film will be available for purchase between April 6 and 13, for Ohioans only, through CIFF Streams. I'm excited to share these people's histories of the village of Yellow Springs, Ohio,which has a unique civil rights legacy. Its history distinguishes itself, because unliketoday, when many small towns have been fractured by racism and economic disparity,members of this community have confronted inequality together. It's perfect that thisOhio film is screening at such an historic Ohio festival. Each resident portrayed hashelped create their own scene, based on an audio interview the director conducted withthem.' Catalina Alvarez, director Over 3,500 submissions were made to the festival this year, yet only 300 were selected (104 features, 198 shorts, all of which will represent 60 countries). The Cleveland International Film Festival was established on 1977. An alternative cut of the film screened last Fall at Columbus' Unorthodocs festival. Click here to learn more. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Life beyond the cosmos? WVU holds screening of ‘Small Town Universe' documentary
MORGANTOWN, (WBOY) — The West Virginia Alliance for STEM and the Arts hosted a screening of Small Town Universe at WVU Friday night as part of its new STEAM Stories series. Small Town Universe delves into themes of love, loss, resilience, hope, scientific discovery and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, all set in Green Bank, home to the renowned large telescope within the radio quiet zone. Prior to the screening, 12 News spoke with Marshall University Master's Student and Physics Graduate Assistant Ellie White on if she believes there's life beyond our universe. 'I don't know the answer and I'm trying to find out and a lot of my colleagues are trying to find out and we're really excited to see what's coming next in the next few years, what we might find. We're searching harder than ever, which means we have better chances than ever finding something and so I'm just delighted to be a part of that,' White said. This exclusive screening, co-sponsored by the West Virginia University Departments of Physics and Astronomy, English and the Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, was free and open to the public. Directed by Emmy-nominated Katie Dellamaggiore, the film premiered at the 2024 Cleveland International Film Festival at the Mimi Theater, where it won the Global Health Award. That day was also when the total solar eclipse happened in 2024, which Dellamaggiore described as 'perfect.' WVU student leader concerned after Trump threatens 'illegal' protests on college campuses 'I knew nothing about radio astronomy at all. I knew that was astronomy before making this film,' Dellamaggiore said. 'I learned how radio astronomy works, why it matters what we're looking for, what we know, what we don't know, and that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is actually like a legitimate field of science. That was something I wasn't fully aware before.' After the screening, attendees delved into a discussion on community, compassion and our place in the universe. Dellamaggiore joined a panel of local scientists, scholars and experts to take the conversation beyond the cosmos. 'The really cool thing about like seeing a film in person with people like this as opposed to just watching it at home on your TV is that like you get to talk about it afterwards. And so, for me like I know the process of being creative doesn't stop like when I finish the film it's like it continues by actually sharing it with people and seeing their reactions and having conversations and so like this is as much my favorite part of the process as making a film,' Dellamaggiore said. The film will have screenings at more locations across the Mountain State over the next several months. Dellamaggiore hopes to have the film seen nationwide at science centers and planetariums. 'The importance of a facility like Green Bank is just, it would take me an hour to list all the reasons why that's important but you know kind of sums up to a couple different areas you have education, engineering, science, and the economy,' White said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
