Cinema Columbus Film Festival to open with portrait of iconic jazz musician

The Cinema Columbus Film Festival has something of a dual purpose: to entertain audiences and to support moviemakers.

Call it a cinematic win-win.

At the second edition of the festival — set for April 26-30 at multiple venues throughout central Ohio — ticket-buyers can expect an eclectic assortment of independently produced films generally not viewable outside of festival settings.

“There’s just this plethora of films being created, many of which are incredible but may not get picked up for distribution,” said festival coordinator Molly Kreuzman.

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Moviemakers, meanwhile, can marshal the momentum of a festival screening to help build interest in their works.

Just ask Dutch Southern, the writer-director of the thriller “Only the Good Survive.” The movie — starring Sidney Flanigan as Brea, a young woman facing interrogation by a sheriff after a heist that has unlikely ramifications — will be shown as part of this year’s festival.

“This is going to be the second screening,” said Southern, whose film debuted at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas. “It’s still pure.”

Southern, a native of north Texas who now works as a screenwriter in Los Angeles, made his directorial debut with “Only the Good Survive.” To hear him tell it, the film, showing at 9 p.m. April 29 at Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse, is dependent on festival screenings.

“It’s the lifeblood,” Southern said. “If a film like this has any chance at all, it’s by being able to be seen and seen by the right people — and the right people are those that go to these type of festivals.”

As one of 28 screenings to take place during the course of the festival, “Only the Good Survive” is just the tip of the filmic iceberg.

“I would like to see Columbus, the last five days of every April, showing independent film across the city,” Kreuzman said.

“We have such a vibrant community of independent filmmakers,” she added. “We also have the film department at CCAD and at Ohio State, plus the film departments at Kenyon and Denison. We are surrounded by institutions that are teaching film to people. As our capital city, we’ve got a real opportunity to show all this off.”

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How is the festival different this year?

Cinema Columbus was first announced to take place in the spring of 2020, but the pandemic delayed those plans by several years. The festival was finally inaugurated last year on an accelerated schedule.

“I was hired Jan. 18 (2022), and we pulled off the festival at the end of April,” Kreuzman said. “It was just a little taste of things to come.”

This year’s festival is bigger in scope and reach than the first edition. For example, additional venues signed up to host screenings, including COSI, the Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD) and the Columbus Museum of Art.

“Most film festivals happen in a little small area, but then what I think happens is the only people that know about the film festival are either people who already love film or that live in that little, small area,” Kreuzman said. “We’re literally across the city.”

Another change relates to how films are chosen: Last year, the lineup was curated by Cinema Columbus officials, but for this edition, filmmakers were invited to submit their works. From those submissions, the festival was programmed.

“We put the call on FilmFreeway (a film festival submission website), which every filmmaker in the known universe is part of,” Kreuzman said. “Every film was watched by three people, and they were all given the same criteria to ‘grade’ the film.”

Screenings are not just for cinephiles

Kreuzman stresses that the wide range of films to be shown is meant to have an equally wide appeal.

“It’s been real intriguing to have people say, “Well, who’s the film festival for?’” Kreuzman said. “It’s for everybody. Then, people will say, ‘Well, is it all foreign films with subtitles?’ Well, no — not at all.”

For example, the opening night selection, at 6 p.m. April 26 at the Lincoln Theatre, is the documentary “Hargrove,” writer-director Eliane Henri’s portrait of iconic jazz musician Roy Hargrove (1969-2018).

“Music is my second love,” Kreuzman said. “I’ve had two really pivotal music experiences. One was in 1988 when I saw Sun Ra at the Chicago Jazz Festival, and the second was when I saw Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove in Eugene, Oregon, and it was one of those experiences where I just lost all track of my physical being.”

The documentary presents Hargrove in the midst of his final tour.

“He passed away two weeks after they got back,” said Kreuzman, who thought the film had the makings of the perfect pick to open the festival.

“There’s a reason why I wanted to show it at the Lincoln, because that’s the home of jazz in Columbus,” she said. “This is a night of film, music and community. I wanted to bring all of us together.”

Among feature-length films, genres represented include crime thriller (“Anchorage,” 7 p.m. April 28, Gateway Film Center), horror comedy (“Obstacle Corpse,” 9 p.m. April 28, Studio 35) and comedy. In the latter category is the Michigan-filmed “Quicksand,” showing at 8 p.m. April 27 at the Gateway Film Center, about two male buddies and their misadventures following a wedding-related mishap.

Since last year, “Quicksand” has emerged as an audience favorite on the festival circuit.

“We started to think, ‘Hey, this does have a life,’” said director JohnPaul Morris. “We won audience choice at the Hell’s Half Mile (Film and Music) Festival, which is huge. For a comedy, that’s your golden egg to basically have the whole film festival vote and say that that’s their favorite.”

A robust selection of short films will also be shown during the festival. Specific programs include those centered on the experiences of military veterans (5 p.m. April 27, Gateway Film Center); the work of filmmaker Elisabeth Subrin (7 p.m. April 27, Wexner Center for the Arts); and the work of central Ohio filmmakers (7 p.m. April 27 and 4 p.m. April 28, Drexel Theatre).

Cary Elwes, one of the stars of the 1987 movie “The Princess Bride,” will appear in-person for a screening at the Palace Theatre at 8 p.m. on April 29.

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Most screenings to feature filmmakers

As the opening night selection, “Hargrove” will feature several ancillary events, including, at 6 p.m., a pre-screening concert given by local jazz artists, among them keyboardist Bobby Floyd, trumpeter Miles Smith and drummer Cedric Easton, and a post-screening discussion with writer-director Henri, Ted McDaniel, a professor of African American Music at Ohio State University, and Jack Marchbanks, the co-host of “Jazz Sunday” on WCBE.

Although opening night is sure to be special, nearly every film shown will feature in-person appearances from filmmakers or actors associated with a given film.

Awards to be handed out

At the conclusion of Cinema Columbus, following a 1 p.m. April 30 screening of short films at the Gateway Film Center, festival jurors will select winners in the categories of documentary feature, narrative feature and short film. An audience award will also be given. Each award comes with a cash prize.

How to go

Tickets to individual films can be purchased by visiting the festival website, cinemacolumbus.com, and following links to CAPA's ticketing portal, CBUS Arts.

Festival passes are not available this year, but Kreuzman said that should change next year.

Whether you see one movie or a dozen, expect to be transported in the company of fellow movie lovers.

“Film is the one art form that envelops every other art form,” Kreuzman said. “It’s writing and it’s costume and it’s set design, and then you’ve got . . . lighting and sound and filming. It’s just such a holistic start-to-finish experience.”

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Full schedule

April 26:

6 p.m.: “Hargrove,” Lincoln Theatre, 769 E. Long St.

April 27:

4 p.m.: “Duranguito,” Drexel Theatre, 2254 E. Main St.

5 p.m.: short film program, “The Power and Purpose of Our Veterans’ Stories,” Gateway Film Center, 1550 N. High St.

7 p.m.: short film program, “Elisabeth Subrin: Three Films,” Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N. High St.

7 p.m.: short film program, “Local Shorts at the Drexel,” Drexel Theatre

8 p.m.: “Quicksand,” Gateway Film Center

April 28:

1 p.m.: “Fashion Reimagined,” Columbus Museum of Art, 480 E. Broad St.

1 p.m. “MID WEST,” Gateway Film Center

1 p.m.: “Perhaps What I Fear Does Not Exist,” Drexel Theatre

4 p.m.: “Stay Awake,” Drexel Theatre

4 p.m.: short film program, “Local Shorts,” Gateway Film Center

7 p.m.: “Anchorage,” Gateway Film Center

7 p.m.: “B-Side for Taylor,” Drexel Theatre

7 p.m.: “We Are the Troopers,” McConnell Arts Center, 777 Evening St., Worthington

7:30 p.m.: “Call Me Dancer,” Wexner Center for the Arts

9 p.m.: “Obstacle Corpse,” Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse, 3055 Indianola Ave.

April 29:

Short film program, “New York International Children’s Film Festival: Kid Flicks”: 10 a.m. McConnell Arts Center; 1 p.m. Drexel Theatre

Short film program, “New York International Children’s Film Festival: Celebrating Black Stories”: 10 a.m. Columbus College of Art and Design, 60 Cleveland Ave.; noon Lincoln Theatre; 4 p.m. Drexel Theatre

Short film program, “New York International Children’s Film Festival: !Hola Cine!”: noon Columbus College of Art and Design

2 p.m.: “We Will Speak,” Columbus College of Art and Design

7 p.m.: “Waiting for the Light to Change,” Gateway Film Center

7 p.m.: short film program, “Documentary Shorts at the Drexel,” Drexel Theatre

8 p.m.: “The Princess Bride: An Inconceivable Evening with Cary Elwes,” Palace Theatre, 34 W. Broad St.

9 p.m.: “Only the Good Survive,” Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse

April 30:

10 a.m.: short film program, “New York International Children’s Film Festival: !Hola Cine!,” Drexel Theatre

Noon: “Stargazer,” Drexel Theatre

1 p.m.: short film program, “CineSpace: 2022 Short Film Finalists,” COSI, 333 W. Broad St.

1 p.m.: short film program, “Narrative Shorts,” Gateway Film Center (followed by festival awards ceremony)

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Cinema Columbus Film Festival returns with city-wide showings