Ohio filmmakers celebrated in Columbus festival

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Cinema Columbus Film Festival presented by CAPA will return for a third year announcing its lineup of independent films and screening schedule.

This year from April 24 to 28, nearly 50 feature films and shorts will be screened at seven locations, according to a news release from the organization. The 22 showings will be hosted by Drexel Theatre, Gateway Film Center, Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse, Grandview Theater & Drafthouse, McConnell Arts Center, the Wexner Center for the Arts, and the Southern Theatre.

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“This year’s festival selections provide cinematic evidence that the world is full of uniquely talented filmmakers, both inside and outside of Columbus,” Festival Director Brett Reiter said. “The city has widened its embrace of film more and more in recent years, and it’s my pleasure to spotlight these emerging film voices for a community of emerging filmgoers.”

The festival will highlight Ohio-based filmmakers with several from the Columbus area.

“False Positive,” a film about Ohio State and Olympic sprinter Butch Reynolds will open the festival on Wednesday, April 24 at the Southern Theatre. The “yet-to-be-released ESPN Films 30 for 30 documentary” from Akron-based filmmaker Ismail Al-Amin is described as “the untold story of the fastest man in the world … whose legendary career was derailed by a faulty drug test in one of the greatest injustices in American sports history.”

Ohio filmmaker Payton Burkhammer, who is also from the Akron area, will return this year with her short film “The Back of Your Eyelids.” Her previous short subject “You’ll Never Be My First Kiss,” was screened during the 2023 festival.

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“Film festivals play a pivotal role in any filmmaker’s journey, and Cinema Columbus goes out of its way to not only celebrate exceptional films, but also champion their creative teams,” Burkhammer said. “I’m thrilled to return this year with fresh work, and the vibrant Columbus community consistently delivers support for the wide range of films screened, making it an absolute joy to share our film to such engaged audiences.”

Tickets are on sale now. Individual screenings are $10. Festival passes, which include admission to all festival screenings and a gift bag are available for $200. Cinema Columbus will host repeat screenings of its award-winning feature films on Sunday, April 28, at the Gateway Film Center. This trio of screenings is part of the Awards Bundle, three films for $25.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CBUSArts Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), online at www.CinemaColumbus.com, or by phone at (614) 469-0939. Pre-purchasing is recommended however, remaining tickets may also be purchased at the door.

Cinema Columbus Film Festival scheduled

Wednesday, April 24
7 p.m. – “False Positive”
Southern Theatre (21 E. State St.)
Genre: Documentary
The untold story of the fastest man in the world, Butch Reynolds, whose legendary career was derailed by a faulty drug test in one of the greatest injustices in American sports history. Monte Carlo, 1990. The world record holder in the 400-meters, Butch Reynolds, takes a routine drug test that comes back positive for the anabolic steroid Nandrolone. When Butch challenges the results, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) publicly admits their lab technician mixed up Reynold’s urine specimen with another athlete’s, leading to a “false positive.” In an outrageous about-turn that would lead to one of the greatest injustices in American sports, the IAAF refuses to administer another test, claiming the lab “corrected their mistake.” Instead, they label Reynolds a “dirty athlete,” banning him from competition during the most vital years of his career.
Post-Screening Event: Moviegoers are invited to stay after the screening for a Q&A with Al-Amin and Reynolds, moderated by Columbus Dispatch sports columnist Rob Oller.

Thursday, April 25
7 p.m. – “Family White Elephants” – WORLD PREMIERE
Wexner Center for the Arts (1871 N High St.)
Director: Mary Jo Bole
Genre: Documentary
Family White Elephants explores the two sides of the director’s family tree, a trove of inherited possessions, and a preoccupation with death, all of which have informed her artistic practice. Bole takes a historian’s interest in her family’s storied genealogy, which includes industrial titans like Carnegie and Rockefeller on one side and Eastern European immigrants on the other.

7 p.m. – “Breaking the News”
McConnell Arts Center (777 Evening St.)
Director: Chelsea Hernandez, Heather Courtney, & Princess A. Hairston
Genre: Documentary
Frustrated by the dearth of women and people of color in the media, Emily Ramshaw wanted to do something radical about the white men dominating newsrooms. So, in 2020, she and a motivated group of women journalists banded together to buck the status quo and launch The 19th* News, a digital news start-up based in Austin, Texas. The film documents the honest discussions at The 19th* around race and gender equity, revealing that change doesn’t come easy, and showcases how one newsroom confronts these challenges both as a workplace and in their journalism.

7 p.m. – “Lost Soulz”
Gateway Film Center (1550 N High St.)
Director: Katherine Propper
Genre: Narrative
A young rapper leaves everything behind and embarks on an odyssey of self-discovery, music, and friendship in the heart of Texas.

7 p.m. – Local Shorts Block 1
Drexel Theatre (2254 E Main St.)
• “Spencer + Penny Forever” (Eric M Boso)
• “IUDemon” (Ali Rose Bianco)
• “Samhain” (Alexis Schuknecht)
• “Listener” (Max Fogle)
• “All the Ways to Say I Love You” (Maya Wanner)
• “The House My Mother Left” (Kaylin Allshouse)

Friday, April 26
1 p.m. – Shorts Block 1
Gateway Film Center (1550 N High St.)
• “Deep in My Heart is a Song” (Jonathan Pickett)
• “You Can Go Home Whenever You Want” (Matthew Everitt)
• “So, That Happened” (Neha Aziz)
• “buna” (Searit Kashay Huluf)
• “Mermaid, Bitch” (Victoria Negri)
• “Backlog” (Jacqueline Rosenthal)

1 p.m. – “Coming Around”
Drexel Theatre (2254 E Main St.)
Director: Sandra Itäinen
Genre: Documentary
A queer young Muslim woman grapples with the decision to come out to her devout mother and ends up marrying her male partner to evade silent disapproval.

4 p.m. – “Chasing Chasing Amy”
Gateway Film Center (1550 N High St.)
Director: Sav Rodgers
Genre: Documentary
This charming, earnest meta-documentary examines the transformational impact of a ‘90s rom-com on a 12-year-old queer kid growing up in Kansas. For young Sav Rodgers, the Kevin Smith cult classic Chasing Amy became a lifesaving representation of queer identity. A deeper dive into the film as a cornerstone of LGBTQ+ cinema finds the director at many unexpected and emotional crossroads.

4 p.m. – “Artist Unknown”
Drexel Theatre (2254 E Main St.)
Director: Cinder Chou
Genre: Narrative
Juniper, an insecure martial artist, must find out the origins of a painting after two thieves try to steal it from her.

7 p.m. – “Fields Adrift” – WORLD PREMIERE
Drexel Theatre (2254 E Main St.)
Director: Tysen D’Eston
Genre: Narrative
A man with terminal brain cancer comes to live with his parents for his remaining days and sets out on a psilocybin-induced spiritual journey.

7 p.m. – “Sofa, So Good”
Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse (3055 Indianola Ave.)
Director: Cole, Eli, & Kyle Thiele
Genres: Narrative
Two cousins move a couch across Dayton, Ohio without a car.

11 p.m. – “The Judgment”
Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse (3055 Indianola Ave.)
Director: Marwan Mokbel
Genre: Narrative
A unique queer horror set in Egypt with an Egyptian filmmaker and a Middle Eastern cast and crew, The Judgment follows a gay couple returning from the US to Egypt for a family emergency, which forces them back into the closet and to attempt to pass as just friends. As the pervasive tension of dangerous homophobia rises around them, they begin to fear that they have fallen prey to witchcraft as punishment for their “homosexual sins,” causing one of them to fall into religious terror and exposing his unhealed past.

Saturday, April 27
Noon – “Bad Press”
Grandview Theater & Drafthouse (1247 Grandview Ave.)
Director: Rebecca Landsberry & Joe Peeler
Genre: Documentary
When the Muscogee Nation suddenly begins censoring their free press, a rogue reporter fights to expose her government’s corruption in a historic battle that will have ramifications for all of Indian Country.

1 p.m. – “The Legend of MexMan”
Drexel Theatre (2254 E Main St.)
Director: Josh Polon
Genre: Documentary
Germán Alonso strives to create his first feature film, the fantastical sci-fi epic MexMan, in spite of struggles with his producers, an unrequited love, and tensions with a documentary crew.

1 p.m. – Local Shorts Block 2
Gateway Film Center (1550 N High St.)
• “Fleshwork” (Lydia Cornett)
• “The Back of Your Eyelids” (Payton Burkhammer)
• “First Look” (Jordan Sommerlad)
• “Wouldn’t Make It Any Other Way” (Hao Zhou)
• “Before I Let Go” (Cameron Granger)
• “River” (Rafal Sokolowski & Kanat Omurbekov)

3 p.m. – “A Still Small Voice”
Grandview Theater & Drafthouse (1247 Grandview Ave.)
Director: Luke Lorentzen
Genre: Documentary
An aspiring hospital chaplain begins a yearlong residency in spiritual care and discovers she must look deep within herself to successfully tend to her patients.

4 p.m. – “The Universal Theory”
Drexel Theatre (2254 E Main St.)
Director: Timm Kröger
Genre: Narrative
The year of 1962. A physics congress in the Alps. An Iranian guest. A mysterious pianist. A bizarre cloud formation in the sky and a booming mystery under the mountain. A quantum mechanical thriller in black and white.

4 p.m. – Shorts Block 2
Gateway Film Center (1550 N High St.)
• “In Our Own Way” (Jason Headley)
• “ho hao wan wan” (Em Yue)
• “Harlem Fragments” (Cameron Tyler Carr)
• “Mar Mama” (Majdi El-Omari)
• “Places of Worship” (Bridget Frances Harris)
• “Plástico” (Vero Kompalic)

7 p.m. – Awards Presentation
Gateway Film Center (1550 N High St.)

11 p.m. – Late Night Shorts
Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse (3055 Indianola Ave.)
• “White Gaze” (ETA)
• “Trundle & The Lost Borscht of Atlantis” (Laura Lee)
• “Peephole” (Brendan Butler)
• “Heap” (Kyle Marchen)
• “Dream Creep” (Carlos A.F. Lopez)
• “Stan Behavior” (Tyler C. Peterson)

Sunday, April 28
1 p.m. – Documentary Feature Award Winner
Gateway Film Center (1550 N High St.)

4 p.m. – Narrative Feature Award Winner
Gateway Film Center (1550 N High St.)

7 p.m. – Audience Choice Feature Award Winner
Gateway Film Center (1550 N High St.)

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