Nights And Weekends Blog

After three days of long, frantic days followed by sleepless nights, Monday morning started with a completely different feel. I’d actually managed to get a good night’s sleep—all the way until my alarm went off. I woke up feeling rested and ready to face the day. Isn’t that how it always goes? You finally get totally settled in—and completely used to this strange new schedule—and it’s already time to go home. [more…]

Before we left the hotel this morning, Michael and I already knew that it was shaping up to be a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants kind of day. I’d had a schedule in mind before I got here, but I’d been having second thoughts about many of the films on my schedule. So, over breakfast, we started making changes. [more…]

Something there is that doesn’t love a blog. Last night, I left the festival early, hoping to get my blogging done early, so I could get a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, though, I spent most of the night battling my computer, which had stubbornly decided not to work. After watching it crash four times or so, I decided that trying once more would only result in my throwing the computer out the window—and I kinda need this thing. So I gave up and called it a night. Now, however, it seems to be working (at least for the time being—I’ll be saving often), so I’ll give a quick run-down of yesterday’s festivities. [more…]

Well, I’m up, showered, breakfasted, and ready to tackle another day of movies.

Before I turned in last night (or this morning, I suppose), I carefully calculated how much time I’d need to take a quick shower and still make it down to the lobby before breakfast ended at 10. Then I slipped into a nice, NyQuil-aided sleep in my king-size bed, surrounded by five fluffy feather pillows. Sure, it’s not the Ritz, but this place ain’t bad for a cheap hotel. [more…]

Attending a film festival is a bit like running a marathon—a four-day long marathon. Granted, it’s four days of mostly sitting on your butt in the dark, watching movies—but it takes planning, preparation, and endurance. You need to be in top physical form to survive—and, unfortunately, I was not in top physical form when I got up this morning to drive to Cleveland for the 34th Cleveland International Film Festival. I was tired. I was sick. I was taking every kind of vitamin supplement and over-the-counter cold remedy imaginable. But that wasn’t going to stop me. [more…]

The Cleveland International Film Festival kicks off tonight at 7, with a showing of director Jac Schaeffer’s Timer. N&W.com’s CIFF adventure begins tomorrow morning — so be sure to check back for daily CIFF updates.

The 34th Cleveland International Film Festival opens a week from tonight! General admission tickets go on sale tomorrow — so be sure to check out this year’s films and get ready to place your order!

As always, I’ll be covering my visit to CIFF right here on the N&W.com blog — but it’s a whole lot more fun to experience it for yourself. If you’ve never been to the festival, I highly recommend checking it out. It’s affordable, it’s accessible, and it features some incredible films that you won’t find anywhere else.

See you there!

In real marathons (of the running variety), participants tend to save up their strength for that last sprint to the finish line. But after three days of my four-day movie marathon, I barely had enough strength left to trip over the finish line — so I took it easy on my last day. [more…]

I woke up this morning feeling a bit fuzzy. My eyes were bloodshot, my knees were spasming, and I was a bit worse for the wear. But I’m not the only one, really. Everyone at the festival — whether it’s the audience, the staff, or the volunteers — seems a bit worn out. This late in the week, people get a bit slap-happy. If the film festival trailer that they always play before the movies had lyrics, people would be singing along by now (I can still hear last year’s song playing over and over and over in my head). During movies, people laugh a bit louder — and at random times. Collectively, as a group, the entire audience is losing it. It’s probably a good thing that it’s almost over. [more…]

Day 2 of CIFF got off to a rocky start — mostly because of the herd of elephants in the hotel room above me, who apparently needed to march around the room at the crack of dawn. So much for getting seven hours in. To make matters worse, I couldn’t find the snooze button on the alarm clock, so I actually got up when the alarm went off. I stumbled off to the shower, remembering that, fortunately, I still had my emergency can of Red Bull, just in case… [more…]