Rob Pitingolo · The Cleveland International Film Festival: Thinking Ahead

March 29th, 2010

The 34th annual film fest is barely a day in the past, but with excitement still in the air, it’s not too early to start thinking ahead to future festivals. Before going on, I want to compliment the Film Society for putting together an outstanding event this year. Having attended film fests in the past, I can honestly say this year’s event really felt the most exciting. I’m also grateful to everyone who shared vouchers with me this year which allowed me to stretch my film fest experience beyond my rather modest entertainment budget.

I honestly think the film fest is one of the greatest assets to downtown Cleveland, and I only want to see it improve in the future. For that reason, I offer a few suggestions and other food for thought.

Developing Mobile Platforms
I don’t have an iPhone, so the only opportunity I had to play around with the official CIFF app was last weekend on a friend’s phone. The app seemed helpful as a scheduling and information tool, and for the first attempt at utilizing a mobile app, I applaud whoever developed it. I’d certainly like to see the app expanded to more mobile platforms: Blackberry, Android, etc., but I also see opportunity for more features. For example, the ability to buy tickets via the app would be very cool, particularly if you could save your payment information. A sort of “one-click” ordering process would be pretty awesome.

Improving the CIFF Website
As far as websites go, CIFF has a pretty nice home on the web. Even so, there are three things I think could make the website substantially better. First, it bugs me that there isn’t a page (or at least that I could easily find) where I can view a list of films playing per day and read the films’ entire descriptions without having to click through to a new page. Second, I wonder why, in the age of YouTube and video embedding, we can’t view the trailers directly from the CIFF website? Lastly, I feel like there is a lot of underutilized potential for the film fest blog. Why doesn’t it look and feel more like a blog? Why doesn’t it have a full-post RSS feed? And why does it require the reader to click to a new page to read every single post?

The Role of Social Media
It’s great that the CIFF was utilizing Twitter and YouTube and Foursquare this year. I wish they would have used Twitter to make more scheduling announcements, like which films were going to standby and which films were being added. As far as Foursquare goes, I was fairly confused as to why there were multiple CIFF locations on there. If I was at the film fest but walking past the Tower City fountain, was I supposed to check into a different location than if I was sitting in a theater? Frankly, it confused me.

Revenue Management
Maybe there is a scientific methodology for determining when films go to standby? Or maybe it’s simply after a pre-determined number of regular tickets have been sold? Presumably, the goal of the film fest is to get as many people into the seats as capacity allows. I understand the logic behind standby, as it gives people who didn’t plan ahead a chance to see a film they might really want to see and it allow the organizers to accomodate pass-holders. On the other hand, most people don’t like the hassle of standby. Even if 95% of standby patrons get into the films, knowing that there is a guaranteed seat available is comforting. I saw a few films that went to standby but then still had (as far as I could tell) 25% or more of the seats vacant. I can’t help but wonder if more people would have turned out if more tickets had been available during the regular ticket sale.

Overall, I really enjoyed the festival and I tip my hat to everyone who made it possible this year.

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One Response to “The Cleveland International Film Festival: Thinking Ahead”

  1. Toni Chanakas Says:
    March 29th, 2010 at 3:15 pm

    Thanks for your post & suggestions, Rob. I have been attending the CIFF for years and Volunteered for 4. I do agree the standby line could be better organized, but I don’t know the logistics how that is decided. I fear that it is just going to get crazier next year.

    I think my utilization of twitter helped the buzz this year. I tweeted every day along with a few others. But, you do make a valid point, twitter could of been used to post a standby list. That would of helped me organize my Film Group.

    I got lucky this year that I got a “Search Committee” pass which helped me avoid the Standby line. I had to explain it to my friends who did not understand it. Perhaps, there can be a better clarification on that definition as well.

    All in All, I have enjoyed CIFF either as a volunteer, standby ticket holder and/or patron. There is A LOT of work that goes into it when I volunteer my time in the office a few weeks before. I am optimistic that the Film Society will figure this out come next year.

    Thanks CIFF, another great Film Festival.