More than 300 films will be shown at the 34th annual Cleveland International Film Festival.

The 2010 Cleveland International Film Festival opens with Timer. Timer is a romantic comedy starring Emma Caufiled, John Patrick Amedori, Michelle Borth and JoBeth Williams. The film is directed by Jac Schaeffer.

This film will open the Festival on March 18th at a special Opening Night Gala, sponsored by Dollar Bank. Tickets to the event are $125.00 ($100.00 for CIFF members). Included are a 7:00 showing of the film (Tower City Cinemas) followed by a TIMER party at the MK Ferguson Plaza in Tower City Center at 9:00. There will be a special guest appearance by director, Jac Schaeffer.

In most cases, advance tickets are available for $10.00 member/$12.00 non-member. You can purchase tickets at www.clevelandfilm.org or by calling 877-304-FILM.

Program guides will be available starting the week of February 22nd.

ClevelandPeople.Com is proud to be a media sponsor of the 2010 Cleveland International Film Festival

The first annual city wide Cleveland Asian Festival aims to bring together Asian culture in a unique festival for all to enjoy. It will be held Saturday May 22, 2010 at East 30th and Payne Ave.

The Cleveland Asian Festival is a collaborative effort by the organizations and communities in Greater Cleveland. It is coordinated by the volunteer leaders within the Asian Pacific communities to foster, educate, and promote Asian culture and traditions, while celebrating Asian Heritage Month.

The Festival will feature

• Entertainment (For the first time in Cleveland: the Wah Lum Kung Fu's Dragon Dance 7-men troupe along with Kwan Family's Lion Dance
• Food and Merchandise vendors
• Local and National Performing Artists
• A children's activities area
• Games
• Competitions
• Health Fair that focuses on diseases and medical conditions that affect Asians Americans.

For more information visit the Cleveland Asian Festival website.

ClevelandPeople.Com is proud to be a media sponsor of the 2010 Cleveland Asian Festival.

Cleveland State University boasts an international population of over 800 students representing 74 countries. International Day is recognition of this and is celebrated yearly during Education Week.

CSU's Main Classroom Lobby was lined with tables and exhibits celebrating the many international students studying at Cleveland State. The Auditorium came to life with dancers and musicians continuing the celebration.

See photos of the students and displays

Top of Page

Stop The Hate: Youth Speak Out! Essay Contest Fights Discrimination and Prejudice. The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage offers $100,000 in scholarships in this 2nd year of the essay contest.

Stop The Hate asks students to describe an act of discrimination, reflect on their own response and write a 500-word essay with a plan of action to affect change. Essays are scored on content, writing, originality and creativity, and utilization of the theme of personal responsibility. Top-scoring entries advance to the finals.

High school juniors and seniors are eligible for three college scholarships to attend an Ohio college or university, as well as other prizes and educational resource materials for their schools. Scholarship finalists also receive presentation training and read their essays at a ceremony to be held on March 21, 2010, where winners will be selected. Students in grades 6-10 are eligible for cash prizes and educational resource materials.

Essays for 6th-10th graders are due November 4th. The deadline for 11th and 12th graders is December 16th. Visit mmjh.org for complete information, guidelines, deadlines, entry forms.

Schools can arrange for a Stop The Hate guided tour of the Museum designed to help them prepare students to write their essays, or dozens of other tours aligned with Ohio State Academic Content Standards. "School groups visit us every day, and are fascinated by our Hate Theater, with its powerful film and displays on the effects of intolerance," remarks Judi Feniger, Executive Director of the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage. "As students tell us their own stories, it became apparent our children know more about discrimination and prejudice than we'd like to think they do in 21st century America."

Top of Page

Over 1,000 of the daily visitors to ClevelandPeople.Com visit from outside the US. The website has been serving as a Virtual Welcoming Center to people from all over the world. We ask the appropriate Ambassador to assist us with specific cases.

For example, we received an e-mail last week from a visitor named Monika in Poland. The message was in Polish so we asked Polish Ambassador John Borkowski to translate for us.

Basically, Monika is coming to the Cleveland Clinic and is nervous. She doesn't know anyone or the language.

We sent Monika's information to many on our Polish (and other) lists and the response was terrific. Several organizations and individuals will be assisting and welcoming Monika.

What a terrific group of Cleveland People!

Top of Page

The U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously on October 8, 2009 to award citizenship posthumously to Polish Hero, Casimir Pulaski. See more .

Top of Page

On August 22, 2009, The Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs relieved Consul General Dr. Zvone ˇigon from his official duties in Cleveland, OH. Dr. ˇigon completed his four-year diplomatic term in the city which claims the largest population of Slovenians outside of Slovenia. The Consulate General of the Republic of Slovenia in Cleveland remains the sole diplomatic office in the State of Ohio.

The Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs has appointed Mr. Jure ˇmauc as the succeeding Consul General of the Republic of Slovenia in Cleveland, with consular jurisdiction over the states of Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. This is Consul General ˇmauc's second post as a Consul General; he previously held the position in Klagenfurt, Austria.

See more about the new General Consul

Top of Page

Browse the ClevelandPeople.Com Calendar of Events to learn what's going on around town. You can also submit your group's events.

August 20, 2009

ClevelandPeople.Com welcomed many of our Ambassadors and friends from various communities to our official Launch Party at Margaret Wong's offices.

See more from the Launch

August 20, 2009

Robert Smith wrote a nice article about the launch of ClevelandPeople.Com in the August 20th Plain Dealer.

You can view it online here.

One correction to the article. ClevelandSenors.Com gets about 15,000 visitors each DAY not each MONTH.

July 28, 2009

ClevelandPeople.Com participated in a meeting to create a Welcoming Center in Cleveland.

The Center would help people moving to the city to learn fundamentals about living and doing business in Cleveland. Visit the temporary webpage for the Cleveland Welcome Center.