At least that’s the best way we could think of describing “Cleveland: A Million Stories” in a headline.

You know, Positively Cleveland could have saved all that money they gave to that company in Kansas City to come up with that slogan and instead just bought the guys who made this video a case of beer. Yeah, at times it feels like a four-minute craft summer beer commercial with a little too much Jack Johnson audio vibe, and it was only filmed over the course of one month and doesn’t include a bunch of cool Cleveland stuff, but it’s a nice roundup and super, super pretty to look at. Way better to look at than shirtless Michael Symon and a hashtag, but see for yourself. Like, we look way beautiful here. Take a look.

YouTube video

(Via Reddit) Filmmakers: Fernando Lopez, Stephen Cinch, Tim Figueira, Logan Hayes, Paul Francis, Adam Huffman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=//www.youtube.com/embed/n5QEdBl_WqQ

This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2014.

Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.

42 replies on “This Cleveland Video Might As Well Be a Tourism Video But It’s Not Because It’s Better”

  2. Interesting angle. Instead of talking about how cool this video was you spend 1/2 the time cutting down another effort to boost the city. You know you didn’t HAVE to do that right? What’s your motivation?

  4. Nick, the other shit is lame but they get tons of public money to do lame shit. They SHOULD be criticized.

  8. Yes, it’s a pretty film, but to me, it seems very stock footage like. And I agree with Laura’s comment above, where’s the diversity that makes Cleveland a great place.

  9. I thought it was a nice look at some people having fun. How many people of one race or a nother didn’t cross my mind until I read the comments. Yes racisim is a problem but its people like you that keep it alive,everything has to be a race issue,thats why everthing has to be a race issue,get it? Let it die already! Thanks for ruining my good time liberal cry baby!!!

  11. Watch the video everyone. Plenty of diversity in there…and its beautiful. Thanks for showcasing this, Scene Staffers!

  12. Bravo to Fernando Lopez, Stephen Cinch, Tim Figueira, Logan Hayes, Paul Francis, Adam Huffman. A lot of hours filming and tons of editing were put into this video and I for one love it. Thanks for the fine effort showing off our great city of Cleveland. I’m looking forward to your next film.

  13. Great Video! Seems to me it’s doing it’s job well, and that is to get people to see what an amazing city it is.

    We (people who don’t live there), simply don’t know much about Cleveland, and this was a wonderful brief view into a city I know very little about. Way to go to the film makers “and” Clevelanders, you definitely have a beautiful city.

    Btw, this post comes from Montreal Canada.

  15. Don’t forget the cleveland rowing foundation /western reserve rowing association rowing leagues on the cuyahoga river

  16. @John Lehman…

    We certainly are no Montreal and we get that…But Cle is a neat little city with her good and bad….(Mostly good!)

    But thank you for the VERY kind words…First round on me if you’re ever in the mood for a roadtrip!!!!

  17. If you don’t like the amount of diversity in this video, feel free to make one yourself, from your perspective. There is no reason one video needs to be a definitive representation of everything and everybody in a major city. My guess is that creating and contributing will be appreciated much more than an incorrect generalization like “Why is everyone in this video white?”

  22. Lovely. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
    Vince, I do have a question for you. Are you a journalist? If so, did you really mean to write, “Like, we look way beautiful here.” Really, dude? Like, really?

  24. I mean you could make this exact video except the intro in any major city. A few shows, street acts. It doesn’t show the unique side of the city at all

  25. so, I’m not the only one who noticed the 99% honkiness of this video. don’t get me wrong, lots of my friends are white. i’m white. i watched it twice to make sure, and yes, it’s beautifully produced, and full of whiteness. it just seemed odd. but i still liked it a lot. and yes CLE rocks.

  26. Wow, what an INCREDIBLY racist video you’ve produced? Maybe you just just rename the video, “A Cleveland: a million stories but only a few black people” or “We do our best to ignore the parts of Cleveland that are black and impoverished”. You guys really should be ashamed of yourselves. There are four black people in that video:
    Two are holding “free hugs” signs.
    One is on a team playing volleyball.
    One is playing a saxophone.
    It’s like the person making the video is telling us, “Dude, there’s no black people here and the ones that ARE here… well… they’re okay. You can tell this because they’re doing okay things. Like playing a game that’s traditionally played by mostly white people, busy performing, or actually literally holding up signs proclaiming how friendly they are.” There’s a ton of shots of white people standing around or walking around on dark streets. Why aren’t there any shots of affluent black people walking around? Where is the diversity? Do you really expect anyone to believe that Cleveland is a predominantly white city? Do you really think this video shows an accurate depiction of blacks? I don’t.
    It’s like some Clevelanders have decided that parts of the city are so far gone that they can just IGNORE them and judge Cleveland’s state of being by the parts of town where white people can hang out. “Inner city schools still a hellhole? Still dozens of square miles of the city I wouldn’t DARE walk around in after dark? Hey, no problem! Those places aren’t really part of MY Cleveland. As long as I can get a latte on Coventry, it doesn’t matter that just a few minutes away are people living on food stamps…”

  27. Beautiful video, but it does feel like “A Million Stories of White People.” Cleveland is less than 40% white, and this doesn’t reflect my memories of living there.

  28. Thanks for all the comments, guys. This is not intended to represent Cleveland in its entirety, this is simply a sample of what we, a very small group of local filmmakers (3 cameras) were able to capture using whatever tools we had available on our time off and really just by checking on upcoming events and talking to local businesses. We really only shot on weekends, a couple of week nights and when we were able to use the gear that is normally very costly. We had no budget, agenda or much of a crew. We look forward to exploring the city a lot more in depth for future projects.

  29. Cleveland metropolitan area as a whole is still majority white. It’s funny how all these white people hate their own race. Maybe there wasn’t any affluent black people around when they filmed the video big whoop. The video wasn’t about some racist integration propaganda. There’s nothing wrong with a video with a majority of white people in it, it doesn’t mean anyone hates anyone else. In every city races tend to congregate together, there’s no point in lying and pretending like they are together all the time

  30. Nothing like attacking someone for trying to make a video. It’s not an official tourism video so ease up.
    How about we encourage more videos in the future to showcase more of the cities diversity and many cultural attributes? No one should feel slighted here., this is a nice positive video showing different parts of Cleveland. Why was their a preconceived notion that this video was supposed to showcase every bit of the City so therefore this is somehow a failure.
    I look forward to seeing future videos that show the many more wonderful sides to Cleveland. It really isn’t fair to assume someone is purposely being a racist because they didn’t fill some unknown quota of races in their piece.
    So should more complaints come in? Where are all the Latinos?? What about the neglected China Town district? oh sure Little Italy was there, but Italians aren’t cultural enough. That isn’t what I would consider a very fair attitude.
    Great work on the video and please keep the videos coming guys! Keep positive and don’t let negativity discourage you.

  31. this is visually great but there is no story here. why no dialougue audio? everyone wants to claim they are a documentary filmmaker because they have a drone and a dslr camera but they cant capture a story, just make pretty music videos. not trying to be a jerk just see so much more potential in this passed up. great beer commercial but doesnt tell me anything real about Cleveland….

  32. There are a lot of folks going on the defensive over a simple question/observation, “Why is everyone in this video white?” It’s a question worth asking considering the city (and the video does not appear to stray into the ‘burbs) is MAJORITY black: 53% in the last census. It also spent some time in the University Circle neighborhood and neighboring Little Italy, where there’s an enormous Asian student population (CWRU enrollment is almost 20% Asian).

    This video is an honest enough depiction of a lot of people’s “summer in Cleveland” experience, but those people (like most of my friends, admittedly) are 20-30 something, reasonably affluent, white transplants and ‘burb dwellers. The neighborhoods showcased are all the most gentrified parts of town. Neighborhoods like Coventry, Shaker Square or Playhouse Square where the gentrification never quite takes hold got a pass. Edgewater is the exception, but obviously whatever event they were filming skewed the demographics that day–Edgewater usually looks a lot more like Cleveland.

    It’s fine that the video showcases a side of Cleveland that maybe doesn’t spring first to mind for outsiders. Still, there’s a pretty strong implication that photogenic means white people and “things white people like,” which I could see a lot of people–you know, the majority of Cleveland–taking as a snub.

  33. Nice video, though it is pretty “white” …but keep on going, make more, visit more locales, different neighborhoods, people, parts of town, and events. I love Cleveland, my hometown, and appreciate the efforts of all kinds of people, of all ages, from different economic and ethnic backgrounds, from the city and the ‘burbs, all who contribute to make Cleveland a better, greater place to live, work, play, and prosper.

  34. Besides the lack of black people and winter images, is the lack of the numerous fat people (both black and non-black).

    Deceiving video, but nice music.

  35. Most of the comments pointing out the lack of diversity in the video make a valid and valuable point in a calm and insightful manner. If the video is presented as a representation of the city, it’s not unreasonable to expect a more fair representation of the population of that city. I say “more fair,” not “exact.” A city that is about 53% African-American, and another 16% or so of other non-whites, deserves to be shown with more color. Getting defensive about it shuts down an important conversation and the importance of such an awareness. Don’t lash out. Listen and discuss.

  37. Those of you saying that this video is deliberately racist or omitting diversity purposely are being ridiculous. They showcased the city’s attractions, well known events and landmarks. Sorry that they chose to feature parts and offerings of Cleveland that you can feel good about…

    The filmmakers never pitched the film as a “tourism” video. That’s a tag Scene put in a title of an article. Nor did they make the video to display the exact demographics of Cleveland. Being angry or upset about that is like being mad that a Mango Smoothie that has some orange and banana flavoring is only called a Mango Smoothie… Really? Just enjoy it for what it is. A nice treat.

  39. A million stories…? Only what, 200,000 people live there, all but 2 white obviously. A more appropriate title might be — “Cleveland: The West Side Market, Edgewater Park and that ridiculous fukking building in University Circle”.

Comments are closed.