The Cleveland International Film Festival will considerably expand its presence in Akron for the 2013 event, with showings in two different local venues on April 11.
“Day and Knight in Akron” will be highlighted by Underdogs, the football drama shot last summer in the North Canton area and directed by Lake High School graduate Doug Dearth, and Red, White and Blueprints: A Rust Belt Documentary, which looks at cities including Cleveland and how they are facing the future, from Akron’s own Rick Stockburger and Cleveland native Jack Storey.
Underdogs will be shown in the Akron-Summit County Main Library at 6:45 p.m. on April 11. Red, White and Blueprints will be in the Akron Art Museum at 6:30 p.m. the same day.
Screenings in the library will also include Congratulations, a comedy-drama about a marriage proposal leading to unforeseen complications, and short films. The art museum lineup has the Indian feature Gattu, about a town, a boy and a mysterious kite; short films; and Magic Camp, a documentary about young people whose love of magic brings them to what the film calls “the real Hogwarts.”
The festival screenings are a collaboration with the museum, library and Akron Film+Pixel, an organization for fans of films and games that grew from the Akron Film Festival.
Funding comes from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which supported single-night showings of films like the documentary Bill W. in the now-defunct Plaza Cinemas at Chapel Hill in 2011 and 2012.
Media partners include the Beacon Journal, WKSU (89.7-FM) and Akron Life magazine.
The Cleveland International Film Festival runs April 3-14, with an opening-night presentation of The Kings of Summer (previously announced as Toy’s House), a coming-of-age story with Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Alison Brie, and Mary Lynn Rajskub. Chagrin Falls native Tyler Davidson is a producer.
In total, the festival will present 178 features and 164 short films, representing 65 countries. There will also be panel discussions on such topics as screenplays and documentary writing, and other film-related events.
Tickets go on sale to CIFF members on March 15, and the general public on March 22.
For more information about the festival and its 2013 selections, as well as trailers for the films, go to www.clevelandfilm.org.
