Editor

AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY “BLOOD BROTHER” OPENS THE 20^TH ANNIVERSARY OHIO INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL ON

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7 AT 6:00 PM AT

ATLAS CINEMAS LAKESHORE 7 THEATRE IN EUCLID

 From Sundance to Hot Docs to Big Sky and onward to the Ohio Independent Film Festival in downtown Euclid, Blood Brother is, in simplest terms, about a man.  In more detail, it’s about Rocky Braat, a man from Pittsburgh who never really liked kids or hot weather, yet found himself immersed in the culture and heat of Tamil Nadu, India, caring for HIV/AIDS-afflicted orphans – and never wanting to return to the American life he once had.  Hailed as "a truly beautiful film about the power of love" by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), and as “Exuberant. Heartbreaking. Transcendent.” by Davis Guggenheim (Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for Superman),“Blood Brother” depicts Rocky’s devotion to the children and endurance in the face of difficulties most of us would never even imagine, and will shake you to your core. “Blood Brother” opens the 20^th Anniversary Ohio Independent Film Festival on Thursday, November 7 at 6:00PM at Atlas Cinemas Lakeshore 7 Theatre in Euclid.  Tickets for “Blood Brother” are $10 and can be purchased online at www.atlascinemas.net or at www.ticketweb.com.  Tickets can also be purchased at the Lakeshore 7 Theatre Box Office, 22624 Lakeshore Blvd.

“’Blood Brother’ is a must-see,” said Therese Grida, Independent Pictures’ Board member and Selections Committee Chair. “The film was submitted to us in October, 2012 and has been working its way around the festival circuit since,” said Grida.  “Blood Brother” won both Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the 2013 Sundance Festival in Park City, as well as Audience Award at Hot Docs and Best Feature at Big Sky in Montana (not to mention a host of others in between).  Director Steve Hoover’s debut feature is independently-produced, which means that it was not financed by any big studio.  “This is the stuff we relish,” Grida said.  ‘Blood Brother’ is what independent filmmaking is all about.”

About Independent Pictures and the Ohio Independent Film Festival:

What started out as the Off-Hollywood Flick Fest accepted its first film submissions in 1992 and held its first screenings in 1993 in a small store front in Tremont.  While the name eventually changed to the Ohio Independent Film Festival, twenty years later the submission process remains the same.  Independent Pictures is also the proud parent of the Ohio Independent Screenplay Awards, the Film Production Training Program, the Director of Photography Workshop, Fiscal Agent Sponsorship Program and more.  The mission of Independent Pictures supports emerging and independent filmmakers by giving a voice to those that might not otherwise be heard.  

Independent Pictures and the Ohio Independent Film Festival are funded in part by grants from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture and Ohio Arts Council, and by Community Shares, a workplace giving organization that supports social justice issues.  For more information on the Ohio Independent Film Festival, please contact Bernadette Gillota at 216-926-6166.