Volunteering at the Cleveland International Film Festival

Contributor, Anne Price spent several days this week volunteering at the Cleveland International Film Festival, which runs from March 6-16 at Tower City Cinemas. She shares her experiences below:

I came; I ushered; I got the t-shirt! No, really. I did. The shirt that says "How will it change you?" on the front and "Volunteer" on the back? The white one, with big black and yellow letters? It was part of being a volunteer this year at the CIFF.

We're volunteering during High School Film Slam weekday mornings. Brings to mind the trenches, fatigue, being an army of one avoiding errant flying bits of popcorn shrapnel, or scowls when the movie doesn't start right away. Courage under fire, that's what it requires. And a written blow-by-blow of events. So, here goes. . .

8:30 am: Arriving, I'm greeted by our smiling leader, Beth Radisek. She's the director of volunteers, and truly, the epitome of grace under pressure. Like any natural leader, she quickly and quietly dispatches her troops: one, to usher for The Art of Negative Thinking, five of us to the Film Slam hallway to make sure kids from various schools get to their rightful films with their own groups.

Waiting for the onslaught, I meet the smiling and twinkly Nancy Gilbert. A seven-year veteran of CIFF volunteering, Nancy also comes equipped with special ops talent: she's a retired teacher. A phys-ed teacher. A phys-ed teacher who recently had the gym named after her at Michael R. White school. She's pretty terrific and carries an air of educator authority; see I'm in good hands.

9:00 am: Have memorized the names of the schools coming to (what I now refer to as) "my" theater: John Hayes, Brush, and Mayfield. Am feeling antsy and in dire need of the two C's atop the personal fuel pyramid: caffeine and cigarettes. So this is how it feels on the front lines! Still no sign of our arrivals. We watch helplessly as other groups of students file past us, headed for their viewing of The Planet. Our top-secret location is outside And Along Come Tourists, a German movie about a man working at the Auschwitz memorial.

9:01 am: Our first students have arrived! They seem to know exactly where they're going, without our help. Nancy and I smile and say hello as they walk past and into the theater. Smiling yes, but inside we are steely warriors, ready for anything. Need directions to the restroom? Don't worry. We got 'em. Wondering how much an Icee costs, young lady? Test us; we're ready. They're blithely unconcerned. All very polite and well-mannered, nary a one needing questions answered.

9:10 am: The next group arrives and Randy, a two-year veteran employee of the Festival, a "theater ops" specialist, comes along. He explains our theater and the one next to it are "interlocked" for this showing; the film must start at the same time in both. We're waiting on one or two more groups - the largest group has hunkered-down, solo, in the adjacent theater. Randy's a student at Dartmouth who says he loves being part of the CIFF. "We had so many people here last night! Three or four movies sold out, like 1500 people in this hallway. It can get a little crazy," he explains.

9:20 am: Our third and final group arrives. Randy calls for the film to begin across an impressive piece of head gear. Such intricate technical pieces of machinery are not issued to volunteer recruits, especially newbies, for obvious reasons. Some day, I vow, I will earn this nifty piece of equipment.

9:30 am: Our students are getting restless, as only high school students can. Yet they remain mostly calm. Their teachers have control. Finally, the film begins with this year's CIFF commercial. For those who don't know, each year the CIFF creates new and different commercials for the festival. This year's involves a young, local actor (wearing a camera strapped to his body) as we follow him along a routine day. Routine, uninspirational -- until he gets to an independent film, that is. It's a great commercial and features a really catchy song called "I've Got Love" by Cleveland's own "The Twilight." You can hear the entire song at their myspace page. It's Day 6 of the CIFF, the point where a commercial could go from creative and inspiring to cloying and insipid from simple overexposure. Hasn't happened yet. Most likely won't.

9:31 am: What now? I wonder aloud to Randy. "Now you can go see a movie, or stay in here and watch this one. There's a Q&A afterwards in this room and the other class will probably come in here to participate."

9:40 am: Smoking a well-deserved, post-skirmish cigarette outside (my first cigarette as a volunteer - I'll cherish it!) I then head back up to watch The Art of Negative Thinking. Spend about 20 minutes there with a few other volunteers, laughing at the dark humor. Then, back to the original watchpost.

11:00 am-ish: The film ends. The kids sit, mostly silent. Betty Potash Gold is introduced. This petite, self-possessed older lady takes the microphone, stands before the students, and begins to speak. What she says captures everyone's immediate attention, including mine: Living in Trochenbrod (the Yiddish name for a town called Zofiowka) Poland, Gold was nine years old when the Nazis came to round-up her neighbors and family. Her father built a false partition, a second wall, on one side of their shed. Inside she and her family hid. When able, they fled for the forest. They spent the next two years living in a cave, with very little food. She, her sibling, and her parents survived; her brother was killed.

Gold is a powerful speaker with a sharp memory and melodic voice that belies the horrors she recounts. She spends a fair amount of time telling her story and then takes some pretty thought-provoking questions from the student audience about racism and forgiveness.

11:30 am: The groups filter out. I hold the door, saying goodbye, nodding. All very, very hard work. It's great to see the kids filing out of the theater and their expressions. Going in, many are mostly quiet, just happy to attend something that gets them out of the classroom. On the way out, enthusiasm levels are much higher. Some argue about points in the film. Others are just animatedly discussing what they've just seen and heard. Good film should raise as many questions as it answers; this morning, it's done the job.

11:45 am: Beth says that most of the morning volunteers are done until the next round of films and we can go watch movies with them or take a break, if we'd like.

So, that's it. That's all there was to being a morning volunteer, and yet, I really am changed. Made a few friends. Got the lay of the land. Did some difficult "ushering." Watched parts of a few films. And yes - even got the t-shirt. It really is as fun as the veterans say! And pretty easy, too. Although I hear it can get pretty crazy during the evening hours - and I'll be learning firsthand, Thursday. No wonder volunteers have doubled in number over the past few years. For each shift you work, you receive vouchers for film tickets. You meet some really interesting, nice people and get to catch a few movies. What more could anyone want?

^{(photo © 2008 S. Mitchell)}