Tom McPhee‘s award-winning documentary, An
American Opera: The Greatest Pet Rescue Ever!, a
film about what happened to the pets left behind when Hurricane Katrina
hit New Orleans, is on a tour that includes stops at more than 100
different cities (with plans to expand to Canada too). The movie
includes interviews with rescuers and adopters as they try to take care
of the countless pets that were left homeless after their owners had to
evacuate the city. “When everyone thinks they’re doing the right thing,
so much can go wrong,” says McPhee. “You have people coming in as
volunteers who are stealing from people’s homes while they’re trying to
help their animals. I saw so much psychology going on. I started to
wind that into a story. The pet portion of this was completely
man-made. If people had been able to take their pets with them when
they evacuated, you wouldn’t have had this problem.” The movie screens
at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 4, at the Cedar Lee (2163 Lee Rd.,
216.321.5411, clevelandcinemas.com). A VIP
reception at 6:15 p.m. includes a meet-and-greet with McPhee. VIP
tickets are $25, with $10 of each ticket going to a local animal
charity. You can purchase tickets and find more information about the
film at rescuepartytour.com.

Positively Cleveland’s Hastily Made Tourism Video Contest wrapped up last week as the winners were announced on May 28 at the
Positively Cleveland offices. The five judges — including
Plain Dealer columnist Mike McIntyre, Cleveland International
Film Festival’s Marcie Goodman, Cleveland Film Commission’s Ivan
Schwarz, Cleveland Plus Marketing Alliance’s Rick Batyko and Mike Polk,
creator of the original hastily made videos that inspired the contest
— picked the winners from five semi-finalists selected on the
number of views and ratings they received on YouTube. The two winning
videos — “Marissa and Kevin” and “Oh Mommy!” — paired
catchy songs with shots of recognizable city spots, ranging from
PlayhouseSquare to the West Side Market. Overall, the contest was a
hit, with 20,000 people viewing the videos. All five of the
semi-finalist videos are still posted at positivelycleveland.com/hastilymade.

One of the best-known cult films of all time, Ed Wood’s
Plan 9 From Outer Space, screens at the Cedar Lee
Theatre (2163 Lee Rd., 216.321.5411, clevelandcinemas.com) as part of its
ongoing Cult Film Series at 9:30 p.m. and midnight Saturday, June 6.
Tickets: $5.

film@clevescene.com

This article appears in Jun 3-9, 2009.

Jeff has been covering the Cleveland music scene for more than 25 years now. On a regular basis, he tries to talk to whatever big acts are coming through town. And if you're in a local band that he needs to hear, email him at jniesel@clevescene.com.