Cleveland International Film Festival
Take your pick of over 300 films from around the world this weekend at the Cleveland International Film Festival. In addition to post-show discussion panels and filmmaker Q&As, over $70,000 in competitive prizes are awarded based on audience voting — so support your favorite short and feature-length films at voting kiosks located in each theater lobby. The festival lasts for 10 days at Playhouse Square, starting Thursday at 7 p.m., with a screening of “For Worse,” a comedy about a recently divorced mother who enrolls in drama classes. The festival transitions to streaming films April 6-13.
Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama join Shemekia Copeland for a concert in Kent. Founded in 1939, the Blind Boys of Alabama are a majority blind or sight-impaired gospel group who have won five Grammy Awards, sung for two presidents and performed at civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s. Shemekia Copeland is a Grammy-nominated blues vocalist and the winner of eight Blues Music Awards. Hear both artists at the Kent Stage Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
Motorcycles in Warren
Take the automobile fanatic in your life to the National Packard Museum’s “25th Annual Motorcycle Exhibit,” featuring 38 unique motorcycles from 25 manufacturers dating from 1902 to 2001. View some of the rarest models known to collectors like the 1936 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead built and sold during the Great Depression at the National Packard Museum in Warren until May 31.
Jazz in Cleveland
Jazz musician Terri Lyne Carrington premieres new arrangements of her original compositions with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra this week. Carrington is a Grammy-winning jazz composer, drummer and vocalist known for her extensive work in music education and her advocacy of women composers. Catch the show Friday from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at the Maltz Performing Arts Center in Cleveland.
Black art history
The latest exhibit from the Cleveland Museum of Art highlights the role of art in American racial integration with a series of prints from Cleveland’s Karamu House, which was home to a printmaking workshop in the ‘30s. While Karamu is best known for its theater work, it was also a space for Black creatives to collaborate in different mediums, including writer Langston Hughes. See the collection of over 50 prints from the 1930s and 1940s free at the Cleveland Museum of Art until August 17.
