April 4, 2026, was orientation for The Cleveland International Film Festival (known as “CIFF” going forward). This was day two of 12 out of 15 days I would be in premium Kandi mode. My schoolgirl outfit was Day One. This day, we kept it simple. I had a three-hour meeting in preparation for my paid role as an on-site fundraiser for this fabulous feather in the cap of my beloved hometown! No huge story, but I took the opportunity to take some outdoor pictures on my way to work, and you will be regaled with so many fab outfits and amazing stories of this event over the coming weeks. This is my proudest Kandi accomplishment, being immersed in an internationally known event, in the film industry, all girl, all the time.
For ten consecutive days, I have to get up and go about preparing for work, as a woman. There will be regular day outfits and there will be special outfits for things like opening and closing day, days with trans related programming (and there is always quite a bit of that at CIFF), there will be karaoke nights and there will be early morning shifts. I have stepped away from my role in life as that chimp driving that truck to this gal who is actually valued, actually chosen to represent this festival. This probably cost me my gig as your overnight Amazon driver (f’ them, I digress…).
Unlike prior years, they really revamped CIFF, streamlining it and interviewing people for their roles. Previously, it was a network of people who knew other people. I was the only person to survive from the decades long fundraising crew (a shame, really) to move CIFF into its next fifty years. We also hired quite a few people from out of town, footing the bill for themselves for room and board (and we don’t get paid all that much) demonstrating what a great festival we have. Kinda makes me proud.
THIS is CIFF 50!
We close with this. It is both my musical nod as well as my regular bit of advice to close a post (as if my advice means a hill of beans).
It is a pearl of wisdom, written by The Glimmer Twins, one Michael Phillip Jagger and Keith Richards.
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try, sometimes
Well, you might find
You get what you need
CIFF is what I needed.
Postscript: This job with CIFF cost me my Amazon job (my choice, I quit). That is not a bad thing. That job had one significant pro, steady work. Always and forever. Every single other thing was a con, from the poorly run company I was actually working for (Amazon itself contracts out all delivery services) to the tremendous grind of the schedule. I went through two three day stretches where I didn’t see my wife due to our opposite schedules and all I did was work and sleep in the opposite of how my body clock works for both. I was also working six days a week. I had no life. It was only a matter of time. The search goes on…
