Adventurous On the Edge Film Festival debuts @SIHSBreenCenter @OhioCityTweets

OnTheEdge

Fri 10/9 – Sat 10/10

Since the turn of the century, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour enjoyed sold-out crowds at Playhouse Square’s Ohio Theatre. Now, a few years after the last tour stop, On the Edge Films’ Christine Russell, who was responsible for bringing the world-renowned tour through Cleveland, is back with something special similar and special: The On the Edge Film Festival, which takes place Oct 9 and 10 at the Breen Center for the Performing Arts in Ohio City.

Billed as Cleveland’s first adventure film festival, the two-day affair offers Northeast Ohio audience films and discussion on issues of local, regional and world relevance. The screening list includes documentaries, narratives, shorts and animation depicting travels and personal journeys related to social and environmental issues.

Russell said she’s looking forward to the Friday screening of Nobody’s River, which showcases women athletes (kayakers) with beautiful scenes of rivers in Mongolia and Russia. Another is Saturday’s And Then We Swam, which tells the story of the first two men ever to row across the Indian Ocean without a support boat.

Cool Cleveland talked to event director Russell about what fans of independent movies can expect from the On the Edge Film Festival.

First of all, what’s with the impetus behind creating the On the Edge Film Festival?

My company brought the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour to Playhouse Square for 15 years. When you bring other film festivals to town, you’re kind of at their mercy. You have to pick the films they give you. So we decided we wanted to do the same type of film festival adventure film. They’re extreme sports, travel, cultural, but we wanted to have more of a local flavor. We’re hoping that will grow and involve more filmmakers from Ohio. Also, the Breen Center is a good fit for us because they’re LEED-certified. They’re a very green facility and a lot of our films promote that.

Compared to the Banff Mountain Film Festival, what are the types of films that will be screened at the On the Edge Film Festival?

We have more short films, which the people seem to like. Our longest film is 36 minutes and our shortest is four minutes. Out of the films, there are probably a handful of extreme sports. Like there’s a well-known woman rock climber, and that’s very rare. We have surfing in Norway. That’s kind of extreme.

Are these documentaries mostly shot with GoPro cameras?

No, these are very professionally done and the photography is spectacular. Actually, that’s probably one of the main things that draws people to this type of film festival. The photography and these action shots are taken all over the world.

Is there any concern the extreme sports angle will turn off some movie-going folks?

We’re not billing it as an extreme sports festival. We’re billing it as an adventure film festival. Honestly, it appeals to a wide variety of people and ages. It appeals to not only active athletes but what I call armchair athletes as well. There are some extreme sports but that’s not the main focus. We have three environmental films, and we have some travel films. We have some short character studies and some are sports related and others are just interesting characters. And the films come from all around the world. Nobody really shows these types of films.

Whew. So we shouldn’t leave the theater expecting to need a cold Gatorade and towel?

No, I think the main thing is they’ll feel inspired. It really inspires people to maybe get out there and do more. The environmental films are inspirational because they tell the story about environmental concerns that are going on around the world.

The films begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and 8 p.m. on Saturday. Advance general seating tickets are $25 for Friday and $25 for Saturday or $40 for both nights.

theedgefilms.com

Cleveland, OH 44113

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