The Buzz is your source for the latest festival highlights and best bets for films each day. You can also catch “The Buzz” video program with Meaghan Earley on Facebook or YouTube. For more information visit www.clevelandfilm.org/social.

What’s Buzzing at the 38th CiFF sunday, March 23, 2014; Day 5:

Start the day at 9:30 a.m. with “In the Name of the Son,” a Belgian film about a woman whose experience counseling others through their losses of faith may not be enough to save her when tragedy strikes her own family.

Have a “Club Sandwich” at 12:00 p.m. In this offbeat romantic comedy from Mexico, young Hector pursues his first love to the horror of his helicopter mother.

Meet the ultimate femme fatale at 2:50 p.m. in “She Wolf.” A beautiful serial killer with multiple personalities finds her existence endangered when one of her personalities falls in love, while a detective closes in on her.

Go on an adventure in search of taco trucks at 4:45 p.m. with “Transfusión,” and learn about the remarkable —and controversial—impact they have had on neighborhoods in Columbus, Ohio, and across America.

A man with a strange allergy to music discovers a low-frequency sound that lets him control the people around him in “LFO,” tonight at 7:00 p.m.

Take a journey of discovery as a documen-tarian tries to unravel the roots and reasons behind North Carolina’s controversial Amendment One in 2012. “One: A Story of Love and Equality” looks at both sides of the issue and searches for common ground between them at 9:20 p.m. tonight.

Find out the latest information about these films and other festival events by picking up The Daily, reading the festival website and, of course, seeing as many films as you can.

the Buzz

The CIFF DAY 5 / sunDAY / 3.23.2014

Pursuing Their Passion

Husband and wife. Guitars and drums. Shovels & Rope. “‘The Ballad of Shovels and

Rope’ is about pursuing your passions in the face of doubt and uncertainty,” explains Jace Freeman, the film’s director. The screening at the Cleveland International Film Festival is the film’s world premiere.

The musical act, Shovels & Rope, is a husband-and-wife duo, Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent—“two hardworking, creative people paving a way for themselves in a difficult environment,” says Freeman.

Freeman and producer Sean Clark met the couple via a mutual friend and produced a few videos for them to use for promotional pur-poses. During the video shoot, everyone hit it off, plus the filmmakers really enjoyed the music. After the initial project was completed, Freeman and Clark knew they wanted more.

“It was evident that this was a unique combination of talents,” says Freeman. While filming one of their songs “that had this Bonnie-and-Clyde, you-and-me-against- the-world feel,” Freeman decided to capture the story of these two young lovers setting off across the country to pursue their fortune.

The duo, plus their dog, were travelling from town to town playing gigs and living out of their van while writing their first record. Freeman and Clark followed them on the journey to over a dozen cities throughout the U.S. and filmed more than 100 hours of them recording their music in hotel rooms and in their van.

Being in such close quarters with their subjects, the filmmakers had to establish trust. They also wanted to be as unobtrusive and as observational as possible.

“It is difficult to try to insert yourself in the most intimate of relationships,” says Freeman. “Being on the road together for extended periods of time definitely helped to develop a feel of solidarity and kinship.”

The hard work is paying off for the musicians. Shovels & Rope made their net-work television debut on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” in January 2013. Producer Clark was so proud. “It was the first tangible indication that this crazy plan of theirs to make a sustainable career by playing music may actually come to pass,” he says.

Even those who are not fans of Shovels & Rope’s music, this “fun musical journey with a great soundtrack” is still for you. “If you don’t come out of the film loving the

band,” he continues. “I promise at least you’ll be in love with Michael and Cary Ann.”

—Anne M. DiTeodoro

Husband-and-wife duo Michael Trent (left) and Cary Ann Hearst are Shovels & Rope. The two musicians won song of the year for “Birmingham” and Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2013 Americana Music Honors & Awards.

Matt and Tom Berninger in “Mistaken for Strangers.”

shOWing tODay at the BeaChlanD BallrOOM

Thanks to the support of Alan and Marta Glazen, the Cleveland International Film Festival will hold its first Waterloo Arts District screenings in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood.

Mistaken FOr strangers 6:00 p.m. the BallaD OF shOvels anD rOpe 8:00 p.m. Make a night of it in the Collinwood neighborhood— see The Daily Online for details.

Challenge MatchThe Challenge Match is the CIFF’s annual fundraising campaign, and the only time of the year that we ask for your support (we do not send out solicitation letters at any time). The challenge to you – our audience – is to raise $100,000, which will be matched by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

We are $32,010 closer to reaching our goal of $100,000

a $10 DOnatiOn QualiFies yOu FOr One OF these FaBulOus prizes!!

IN THE MIX: If you’re a “smoothie” family, or perhaps frozen drinks are your style, you can do it all with a Vitamix, the world’s most durable blender! We’ll also include Market Bonds from the West Side Market for fresh produce.

THE ROCKER: Enjoy a weekend downtown with a Family Membership to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, dinner at The Market Garden Brewery and an overnight stay at the Cleveland Renaissance Hotel!

THEATRE:This is a theatre lover’s dream package! Enjoy dinner for four at La Strada and tickets to see tap dance legend Maurice Hines in “Tappin Thru Life” at The Cleveland Play House.

Stop by the Challenge Match table in the Tower City Cinemas lobby to donate.

thank yOu FOr yOur suppOrt!

Official Airline of the 38th CIFFThe Cleveland International Film Festival receives public support with local tax dollars from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, to preserve and enrich our region’s artistic and cultural heritage.

Over the course of his too-short life, Mark Bingham surprised his mother with a number of life-transforming

announcements. While his last one—his call from within United Flight 93 on September 11th, telling his mother that the plane he was in had been hijacked—is probably the most famous, another moment sticks in Alice Hoagland’s memory.

“Mark came home from school and said ‘Mom, I’ve got a sport! RUGBY!’ Oh my gosh,” Alice Hoagland laughs. “All the stereotypes about rugby flashed through my mind, and I was a little bit afraid that my son was going to be maimed or killed on the rugby pitch. But as it turns out, rugby is safer than American gridiron football.”

Mark had a gift for challenging stereotypes, part of what drew filmmaker Scott Gracheff to his story.

“He seemed like an incredible guy,” says Gracheff, “someone who I would have wanted to meet, hang out and become friends with.”

Although they never met in life, Gracheff was able to forge a connection with his subject through the enormous collection of videos that Mark had shot over the years, and through the enthusiastic support of Mark’s family and friends, resulting in “The Rugby Player.”

In addition to overcoming physical pain on the rugby field, Mark was also a gay man who faced prejudice and discrimination throughout his life. His mother has championed LGBT causes in his name, noting that “one thing that Mark dreaded when he was alive, was the idea that gay people were so badly reviled in the press, and in literature, and in the movies,” which would have portrayed him as someone

incapable of the heroic acts he performed, both in everyday life and on the final day of his life.

“The mainstream media often takes the easy way out, simplifying stories, leaving out details and settling for convenience over truth,” Gracheff agrees. Countering with rich, complex stories and marginalized perspectives, like Mark’s, is his mission.

Although “The Rugby Player” has screened almost exclusively at LGBT film festivals so far, both Hoagland and Gracheff have high hopes that it will get a wider release, given how crucial its message is.

“The world needs to see,” Gracheff explains, “that when someone makes the decision to come out as gay and live honestly and openly in society, and when they are met with love and support as opposed to intolerance and violence, they can grow up to be extraordinary individuals, and in Mark’s case, they can even grow up to be heroes.” —Lara Klaber

An Authentic American Hero

Director Scott Gracheff first learned about Mark Bingham’s (pictured) story while having dinner with Mark’s best friend, Todd Sarner, who commented that he was drinking Mark’s favorite drink.

The Daily hasn’t shrunk; it’s online. Read exclusive content that’s not available in the print edition by visiting The Daily online edition at www.clevelandfilm.org/festival/the-daily.

TOdAy’S ONlINE vERSION INCludES:

• Grantham & Rose (Playing today at 5:00 p.m.) Kristen Hanggi, the film’s director, talks about her process in bringing the relationship between the main characters to life in this charming film.

• Copenhagen (Playing today at 9:40 p.m.) Director Mark Raso was inspired to create this coming-of-age story by the Danish city he loves.

• Tower City Observation Deck Get all the information you need to visit the Tower City Observation Deck during the festival.

• CIFF at the Hanna Theatre Highlights from CIFF at the historic Hanna Theatre.

THEonlinE

the rugBy player is playing today at 7:15 p.m.

shOWingtODay

Directors of “Andrew,” Joseph Jurecki (left) and Travis Pollert (right), along with CIFF staffer Bob Reiland, all graduated from the film program at Cleveland State University.

THE HomE for sToriEs

Phot

o: P

eter

Bru

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Festival Updatesadded screenings:Monday March 24thOhio shorts program 1 9:10 amComedy shorts program 9:35 amOhio shorts program 2 11:00 am

Sunday March 30ththe sax Man 4:45 pm

late additions:Saturday March 29thlast Days in vietnam 12:45 pmto Be takei 3:00 pm

Sunday March 30thlast Days in vietnam 3:45 pmto Be takei 5:00 pm

Check for the latest festival updates on Twitter or Facebook. Or visit www.clevelandfilm.org/festival/updates