Cinema Columbus Film Festival gathers many to make Greater Columbus a film epicenter

If you are a film fan, be sure to make your way to the Gateway Film Center this weekend, the Drexel Theatre in Bexley and the Wexner Center for the Arts on the campus of The Ohio State University.

Those three venues − along with the Grandview Theater and Drafthouse, Southern Theatre, Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse and McConnell Arts Center in Worthington − are the settings of the citywide Cinema Columbus Film Festival on April 24-28.

The goal behind the festival, entering its fourth year, is to make Columbus an epicenter of all things cinematic.

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“I really am a believer in decentralizing the coasts from filmmaking,” said festival director Brett Reiter. “Film is for everyone; film is everywhere.”

That includes films made in Ohio. Of the 45 films being shown at Cinema Columbus, 16 were produced in the Buckeye State, Reiter said. Among those titles is the drama “Souls Adrift,” which is to have its world premiere.

“I think that’s a great number, and I hope to continue raising that,” he said, referring to the number of Ohio-made films in the lineup.

What festivals offer filmmakers

As a movie producer whose credits include the 2022 made-in-Columbus drama “Poser,” starring Sylvie Mix, which played at the Tribeca Festival, Reiter said he understands the importance of film-festival bookings for small, independent films.

In years past, traditional movie theaters might play a movie for weeks or sometimes months, but today, a title will seldom be run for that long. Many movies end up quickly on streaming or video-on-demand.

“The turnover has become quicker and quicker,” Reiter said. “You blink and you miss it.”

That means that screenings at film festivals around the country can extend the theatrical life of a film.

The festival circuit, Reiter said, “keeps films alive and keeps them present.”

What film festivals offer audiences

For audiences, film festivals offer the chance to see films that would not otherwise be viewable.

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“You might not ever see these films again because largely, they don’t have distribution,” Reiter said.

And in the case of world premieres − several of which are featured at this year’s edition of Cinema Columbus − audiences can see films that none of their friends, neighbors or even fellow cinephiles will have.

This year, world premieres include the documentary “Family White Elephants,” about the family tree of director May Jo Bole (7 p.m. April 25, Wexner Center for the Arts) and the drama “Fields Adrift,” about the final days of a man contending with brain cancer (7 p.m. April 26, Drexel Theatre).

Where films are being shown

Unique for a film festival, Cinema Columbus screenings are scheduled at far-flung venues throughout Greater Columbus − something that, Reiter acknowledges, makes easily going from one movie to another something of a challenge.

“As a festivalgoer, you can’t hop from the Drexel to McConnell Arts Center very easily, unless you have a car,” Reiter said.

Plus, screenings often overlap. Two programs may be happening concurrently at venues far from each other, making attending everything impossible.

The festival, then, carefully tailors what sorts of films are shown at a given venue.

“I think that has opened up such an interesting challenge for us as a festival in terms of programming for different neighborhoods and demographics,” Reiter said.

“(We’re) trying to meet folks where they’re at in terms of what they might be looking for or what they might want to see.”

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For example, Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse was selected as the site for horror films or others that might be considered a bit offbeat, Reiter said. That includes the films “Sofa, So Good” (7 p.m. April 26) and “The Judgment” (11 p.m. April 26), the latter of which is an Egyptian-set horror film centered on a gay couple who come to feel they have been targeted by acts of witchcraft.

Studio 35 is also the site of a block of late-night short films (11 p.m. April 27).

The Gateway Film Center is a “hub” of numerous screenings, including the drama “Lost Soulz” (7 p.m. April 25), about a young rapper searching for meaning while journeying through Texas; “Chasing Chasing Amy” (4 p.m. April 26), about a fan’s connection to the Kevin Smith movie “Chasing Amy"; and several programs of short films, including at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. April 27.

“I think we can make it more custom-made for each screening and each venue,” Reiter said.

The full schedule

Tickets for individual screenings cost $10. Festival passes, which include admission to every screening and a Cinema Columbus gift bag, cost $199.95. To buy tickets or passes, visit cinemacolumbus.com.

A full schedule of screenings follows:

April 24: 7 p.m., Southern Theatre, 21 E. Main St.: the documentary “False Positive”

April 25: 7 p.m., Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N. High St.: the documentary “Family White Elephants"; 7 p.m., McConnell Arts Center, 777 Evening St., Worthington: the documentary“Breaking the News”; 7 p.m., Gateway Film Center, 1550 N. High St.: “Lost Soulz”; 7 p.m., Drexel Theatre, 2254 E. Main St., Bexley: local short films

April 26: 1 p.m., Gateway Film Center: short films; 1 p.m., Drexel Theatre: the documentary “Coming Around”; 4 p.m., Gateway Film Center: the documentary “Chasing Chasing Amy”; 4 p.m., Drexel Theatre: “Artist Unknown"; 7 p.m., Drexel Theatre: “Fields Adrift”; 7 p.m., Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse, 3055 Indianola Ave.: “Sofa, So Good”; 11 p.m., Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse: “The Judgment”

April 27: Noon, Grandview Theater and Drafthouse, 1247 Grandview Ave.: the documentary “Bad Press”; 1 p.m., Drexel Theatre: the documentary “The Legend of MexMan”; 1 p.m., Gateway Film Center: local short films; 3 p.m., Grandview Theater and Drafthouse: the documentary “A Still Small Voice”; 4 p.m., Drexel Theatre: “The Universal Theory”; 4 p.m., Gateway Film Center: short films; 11 p.m., Studio 35: late-night short films

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Multiple theaters part of this year's Columbus Film Festival