Last month, staff from the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) played matchmaker. They held meetings throughout the region in an effort to match the 36th annual festival's most compelling, topical titles with nonprofit organizations whose mission and work relate directly to the content of the film.

When the 2012 festival kicks off on March 22, 125 nonprofit partners will join with CIFF to help market the festival and engage the community in discussions and education about the films. According to CIFF Associate Director Patrick Shepherd, it's a community-based strategy that's really paid off over time.

"We try to take our content and push it beyond just the screen, and one of the ways to do that is to partner with the region's nonprofit organizations," he says. "This targeted marketing has really begun to pay dividends over time, and we believe it's been one of the reasons for our annual increases in attendance."

For example, this year CIFF will screen a film called Brooklyn Castle about an inner-city youth chess program in New York City. Progress with Chess, a local nonprofit that promotes chess as a way to help students develop critical thinking skills, is its community partner. Progress with Chess will hold dozens of chess matches in the Tower City Skylight Concourse to coincide with the film. There will also be a FilmForum to discuss the issues presented in the documentary.

"These kinds of community partnerships are rare among film festivals, and we're really being seen as a national model," says Shepherd, who cites the partnerships as a key part of CIFF's "After the Credits Roll" program that seeks to educate, inform and mobilize the community. "We're very fortunate for that."

Source: Patrick Shepherd
Writer: Lee Chilcote