When Joyce Mariani moved back to Cleveland from Italy, she was disappointed to not find theaters showing the award winning films she had seen back in Europe. So she decided to show them herself. In 2006, Mariani founded the Cleveland Italian Film Festival.

"I lived in Italy and when I came back I didn't see these great films that were playing Cannes and Venice. "I called John Ewing (at the Cleveland Cinematheque) and he said 'do you really want to do that? You have to find distribution and so much more. It was a baptism by fire that year." A decade later, the Cleveland Italian Film Festival is thriving.