Next year’s Cleveland International Film Festival will again be held at downtown’s Tower City Cinemas. There was some concern that the 2017 event would have to be moved elsewhere because the building the theaters are located in has a new owner. Cleveland Casino owner Dan Gilbert’s company recently bought the building, but it’s announced the festival will stay. Joe Marinucci is president of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. He’s glad the event is returning to The Avenue at Tower City Center. And he says the festival’s location has been in question for some time.
“The festival has really been looking at alternatives for a number of years simply because Forest City, the previous owner of The Avenue had indicated they were divesting themselves of The Avenue. So therefore there has been ambiguity about the future of the location.”
Marinucci says the crowds the film festival attracts are big economic boons for downtown hotels and restaurants. This year’s 40th anniversary event which wrapped up yesterday drew a record of more than 102,000 movie fans.
