Update: Locally Filmed 'Lost & Found In Cleveland' To Have Theatrical Release on November 7

A scene from Lost & Found in Cleveland Credit: Courtesy RMG

The Fithian Group, a cinema industry consultant agency, just announced the first film for the Beta development phase of its recently announced theatrical distribution and online digital marketplace, Attend. The film, the locally lensed Lost & Found in Cleveland, will hit theaters nationwide on November 7 .

“Lost & Found in Cleveland is about building our future dreams on the treasures and memories of our pasts,” says writer-director Marisa Guterman in a statement. “It’s been our mission to have audiences around the country see this film in movie theaters, where dreams are shared. With the Fithian Group and Attend, we see the future of theatrical distribution for movies like ours.”

The Fithian Group is supported by more than 90 filmmakers including big names such as Steven Soderbergh, Damien Chazelle, Patty Jenkins and Sean Baker.

“The Fithian Group is developing technologies through Attend to feature mid-range movies that have disappeared from cinemas, international movies seeking domestic releases, and independent movies that typically receive limited theatrical release but could gain broader audiences through data-driven theater selection, scheduling and marketing,” reads the press release.

“Lost & Found in Cleveland is precisely the kind of movie that benefits from changing outdated business models around a theatrical release,” says Jackie Brenneman, a Fithian founding partner. “Attend allows for unprecedented collaboration between filmmakers, theater owners, and marketers in expanding the reach of theatrical moviemaking. [Writer-directors] Keith [Gerchak] and Marisa [Guterman] bring filmmaking passion, a legendary ensemble cast, and brand partnerships with their social media reach to combine with the local marketing power of targeted movie theater locations.”

When the film showed at the just-concluded Cleveland International Film Festival, it drew a record crowd of 2700 in attendance.

“The response tells us the audiences are there for a film like ours,” says Gerchak. “We know that with the help of movie theaters and The Fithian Group and Attend, we will find them across the country.”

Local brand and community partners include Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams, the Cleveland Guardians, KeyBank, Viking River Cruises, WorthPoint, Malley’s Chocolates, Discount Drug Mart, Destination Cleveland, and the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum.

Original Post 9/20/2024:
Directed, Written and Produced by Marisa Guterman and Keith Gerchak of Double G Films, the film Lost & Found in Cleveland, which was filmed in Northeast Ohio, serves as a love letter to our fair city.

Now, the filmmakers have just announced that the film will make its world premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival on Saturday, Oct. 19.

Press materials describe it as a “new American fable about the post-Industrial American Dream in the Industrial Midwest — a slice-of-life depiction over a 24-hour period that follows the personal odysseys of five very different people whose lives intertwine when America’s favorite televised antiques appraisal show comes to their city.”

The cast includes Golden Globe/Emmy/BAFTA Winner Martin Sheen (West Wing, Apocalypse Now), Academy Award nominee June Squibb (Thelma, Nebraska), Golden Globe winner Stacy Keach (Nebraska, The Bourne Legacy) and Emmy nominee Jon Lovitz (SNL, A League of Their Own).

The directorial debut of Guterman and Gerchak, the movie was produced by Oscar nominees Shaun Redick and Yvette Yates Redick (Get Out, Blackkklansman, Day Shift).

A 50-piece orchestra with musicians from La La Land, Oppenheimer and John Williams’s films provides the score.

“We all have something in our attic that has value well beyond the sticker price,” says Guterman in a press release about the upcoming premiere. “Lost & Found in Cleveland is a celebration of often overlooked objects, people and dreams. Filmmaking and antiquing are both efforts in collecting and curating memories in the ultimate hope for connection, preservation and legacy. Hidden treasures come in all different forms — we think this film is one of them.”

“From the performances of our iconic ensemble cast to the cinematography and score, we think this film will catch audiences by surprise and have them laughing and crying at the same time. It’s been an incredible road to creating Lost & Found, and we’re thrilled that journey has led to our World Premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival,” says Gerchak. “We set out to tell a fable about the American Dream and came to realize our own in the process.”