Filmmakers from across the world are making their way to Cincinnati in what will be a full circle affair.
Film Cincinnati and Meet NKY are hosting the Association of Film Commissioners International’s (AFCI) 2025 Cineposium, celebrating AFCI’s 50th anniversary, from Sept. 14-18.
It brings the event back to where it started.
“The very first version of the Cineposium was in Cincinnati 48 years ago,” Film Cincinnati CEO Kristen Schlotman said. Film Cincinnati founder Lori Holladay was also a founding member of AFCI.
The event has taken place in major cities including Barcelona, Los Angeles and Paris. It hasn’t been in North America in eight years.
“I’m excited to bring our delegation to a city that was a top contender for Sundance (Film Festival),” AFCI Executive Director Claire Brooks said. “I think it’s a sign that there is incredible vibrancy and vitality for Cincinnati.”
With many movie productions going overseas where the cost of labor is cheaper, Film Cincinnati still looks to make an impact locally. Bringing a major conference and notable film executives to town is just one of the ways the organization has put a global spotlight on the city.
“Knowing the trends and the tides of the industry, and in real time understanding the shifts, our job at Film Cincinnati is to have a meaningful impact on the local economy, specifically the creative economy,” Schlotman said.
Film Cincinnati won the Cineposium’s request for proposals just weeks before it submitted a request for the Sundance Film Festival. Cincinnati finished as a top three finalist for Sundance, but the city lost out to Boulder, Colorado, in March.
“I think Film Cincinnati has always been swinging big,” said Chase Crawford, founder of the Cincinnati-based independent film production company Four By Three. “Their initiative is to truly build Cincinnati as the non-coastal film hub of the country, if not the world.”
OK, so what is the Association of Film Commissioners International Cineposium?
The common Cincinnatian may not know much, if anything, about the global Cineposium and who is invited.
AFCI is a global nonprofit that represents film commission members across six continents.
Schlotman said the Cineposium is traditionally used for film commissions to network with and learn from each other. However, AFCI has broadened its membership to include studio executives, producers and more. For the first year ever, non-AFCI members are allowed to attend.
“It’s not every day that you get to mix and mingle with the types of people that are coming into town,” Crawford said. “I think for Cincinnati to land an event like this, it’s inspiring for what’s to hopefully come.”
The conference will host programming that ranges from talks with Bloomberg associates on economic development to a panel on athlete-driven media with Cincinnati Bengals greats Cris Collinsowrth and Sam Hubbard and Reds Hall of Famer Bronoson Arroyo.
Cincinnati also gets to show executives from the likes of Netflix, Disney and more what the city has to offer the film industry.
“They probably couldn’t imagine, ‘Why is Cincinnati in this conversation (for Sundance)?’ Well, if you stop and stand there on the steps (of Memorial Hall), and I point to the 13 theaters (within walking distance) you start to see it,” Schlotman said.
Brooks says the event should bring a lot of civic pride to the area.
“Given that this is the first time that the Cineposium has been hosted in the U.S. since the (COVID-19) pandemic, I hope that it’s a point of pride for the city,” she said. “At least in the AFCI family, Cincinnati is a part of that global conversation of film and culture and production hubs.”
Familiar faces return to Cincinnati
Festivities kick off Sept. 14 with a 10-year anniversary screening of “Carol,” an Academy Award-nominated drama starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara that was shot almost entirely in Cincinnati in 2014.
Filmmakers Todd Haynes and Christine Vachon will be in attendance.
“Todd Haynes discovered that Cincinnati had such tremendous care for their architecture and a lot of it was still intact … he discovered that we could do a period film for New York better than New York could do a period film,” Schlotman said. “Todd Haynes, being the respected filmmaker that he is … he discovers that, people pay attention.”
On Monday, Film Cincinnati will host a conversation with Greater Cincinnati native George Clooney. The red-carpet fundraiser at MegaCorp Pavilion brings the Cincinnati native to the Queen City, where he filmed “The Ides of March” in 2011, thanks to the tax-credit program Schlotman helped bring to the state.
“This is his hometown,” Schlotman said. “We know his family. We grew up watching his dad (Nick Clooney) on our local news. I’ve worked with his mom in the film commission space for tax credits, and then I was lucky enough to support a movie he made here.”
She called “The Ides of March” a blueprint for what Cincinnati was capable of in the film industry.
“We want guests to feel like they had a shared experience of an intimate conversation on those personal stories.”
What this means for Cincinnati
Since Ohio started rewarding motion-picture tax credits in 2010, Cincinnati has landed numerous major productions, from “The Ides of March” to “Carol.” More recently, “Superman” and “The Mastermind,” filmed here.
“A lot of work is going overseas right now and without advocates like (Schlotman), our people would really, really be hurting,” Crawford said.
“We have the locations. We have the people. The local infrastructure is totally on board with filming. You’re not jumping through a bunch of the (unnecessary hoops).”
Bringing in notable filmmakers from around the world for events like the Cineposium continues to open eyes for Cincinnati.
“When you bring a great idea with an organized plan, this community shows up, everyone from the top down,” Schlotman said. “That’s a testament to, one, the work that we’ve done … but, two, how this community shows up for one another.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why Netflix and Disney execs, and George Clooney, are checking out Cincinnati this month
Reporting by David Wysong, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
