The 50th Cleveland International Film Festival ran April 13 through 18 at Playhouse Square, with online streaming continuing through April 26. The milestone edition featured 236 shorts and 90 features, with Ohio filmmakers represented across both categories. To mark its anniversary, the festival returned to the Cedar Lee Theatre in Cleveland Heights — the venue where the event launched in 1977 — for the first time since moving to Playhouse Square as its primary home in 2019.

Ohio films in the program included Big Bass, a short from Oberlin graduate Drew Dickler; Love in the Lanes, a bowling-themed project by Andrew Easterling, a Cleveland State University alumnus and Ideastream employee; and Magan’s Fare, produced by Kent State professors Dana White and Chris Knoblock and starring Academy Award winner Barkhad Abdi. Feature-length Ohio entries included Free Beer Tomorrow, documenting a Columbus bar that has served the lesbian community for five generations, and Song Silenced: Coming Out In Christian Music, a documentary featuring Cleveland jazz and gospel singer Billy Newton-Davis.

Festival co-founder Jon Forman noted the significance of using multiple venues for the anniversary edition: “Everything was under one roof, which is very rare for a festival.” Executive Director Hermione Malone led the 2026 edition, with Paul Sloop serving as director of programming.

Source: Ideastream Public Media