CLEVELAND — Each year, Cuyahoga Community College's Tri-C Film Academy holds its film workshop, where students learn from real professionals how to bring their stories to life through motion picture projects.
They create a short film in just three days.
This year's Tri-C film is called "The Resistance," a World War II drama about four female spies in occupied France. And it's been selected for screening at the Cleveland International Film Festival this week.
Kara White, Emmy Award-winning film producer and Northeast Ohio native was asked to write and direct the film.
"To be able to just go out the front door and be at the film festival in twenty minutes Is pretty cool," White says.
White's passion is writing films based around aviation and strong women in history.
"The Resistance" has already been shown at several film festivals around the world. "We've been in Paris and Florence and have won lots of awards for it," White adds.
As exciting as the international acclaim is, being featured in her hometown is special for White, as it helps showcase the talent that's right here in Northeast Ohio. Despite flying under the radar, Cleveland's art and cultural scene is world-renowned.
"I love that Cleveland is growing, that we're able to do more films here and we're able to groom more film professionals like we do with the Tri-C program," says White.
"The Resistance" will be one of the only films featured at this year's festival that has an entire cast and crew from Northeast Ohio.
Tri-C instructor and local cinematographer Adam White is proud of how hard his students have worked. He believes all of the recognition shows that Cleveland's talent can compete on any screen.
"When features come into town and people are able to work on them, whether it's a Marvel or a movie about LeBron (James), we're able to showcase that," Adam White says. "But to be able to have us in more creative roles and leadership roles and show that we can hang with the international scene, it warms the heart to be able to do that."
White is looking forward to presenting "The Resistance" to viewers in Cleveland at the festival.
"To be able to have one of your projects and show it to the hometown crowd is very rewarding," he adds. "And to be able to have all of the cast and crew who are all from Northern Ohio be able to attend, it will be quite the party."