Northeast Ohio鈥檚 New Wave sons and a comedy about phone scammers will bookend the 48th Cleveland International Film Festival.
The festival runs April 3-13 in Playhouse Square and opens with 鈥淭helma,鈥� starring Academy Award-nominee June Squibb as a woman billed as 鈥渟trong, sturdy and in-charge.鈥� It鈥檚 the nonagenarian鈥檚 first leading role in a 70-year career. The comedy follows the aftermath of an elder-abuse phone scam. It also marks the final on-screen performance by Richard Roundtree. They鈥檙e joined by Fred Hechinger, Parker Posey, Clark Gregg and Malcolm McDowell. 鈥淭helma鈥� premiered last month at the Sundance Film Festival.
closes with 鈥淒EVO,鈥� a documentary about the yellow-suited, energy dome-wearing band from Akron. Including never-before-seen footage, the film looks at their influential 50-year career, from Kent State University to multimedia stardom. Special guests for the screening have yet to be announced. The does not list any tour dates in April.
Director Chris Smith (producer of 鈥淭iger King鈥�) weaves together performance footage, archival film of the late Bob Casale and new interviews with Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale into the band鈥檚 first authorized documentary. Previous authorized projects were slated for home video or television.
In Variety, Owen Gleiberman gave the film a positive review after its Sundance premiere last month, calling it 鈥渁s much fun as its subject.鈥� At the time, Smith that he鈥檇 had extensive discussions with Devo before the project even began.
"It was one of those stories, when you actually started going through the material, you couldn't believe it hadn't been done this way before," he said. "They were such a visual band that it was perfect for a documentary."
The closing night gala includes the Filmmaker Awards ceremony. This year鈥檚 award was designed by R.C. Sanford. His work combines wood, glass and illumination. He and his wife, Trisha Sikora, own .
After the festival at Playhouse Square, CIFF48 Streams will continue online April 14-21. The full festival lineup will be announced March 8, with ticket sales opening a week later.
