David Huffman cooks up dream job as new director of Cleveland Cinematheque

How David Huffman fares as the new director of the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque remains to be seen. He’s only a few days into the post. 

One point, though, is beyond question, even at this early stage: In terms of passion for the job, no one is better suited to take up the mantle of longtime director John Ewing or his successor, Bilgesu Sisman. A film superfan, he’s spent his life preparing for just such an opportunity. 

“I’ve watched every type of movie there is,” Huffman said in mid-May, shortly after his appointment was announced. 

Advertisement

“I’m not a film snob but I love snobby films. I’m not afraid of the lowest bit of garbage or the most intimidating three-hour art films. It’s all just a part of who I am.”

“Part” is the operative word in that last observation. Huffman is indeed a cinephile of the highest order. He proudly claims to watch 600 films a year, and his tagline on his LinkedIn profile is “I live for movies…” But film is far from his only pursuit. 

Indeed, Huffman’s previous job wasn’t in film at all but rather in baking. For eight years, he ran (and will continue to run) a business called Bitchy Vegan Homo,  a website, store and video series for those looking to bake without animal products. 

Still, film was in his heart, in a way. What began as an online cooking show launched as a hobby snowballed into a full-time gig that entailed producing charming videos and appearing and hawking products at festivals and markets all over the region. So strong was Huffman’s following, he was able to sustain himself for three years, entirely with recipes and dessert mixes. 

“People really responded to my products,” Huffman said. “Never would I have predicted that I’d become a professional vegetarian baker. It was very fortuitous that I was able to support myself.”

It may have been better preparation than meets the eye. Huffman said he believes many of the skills he developed at Bitchy Vegan Homo will also apply atop one of the nation’s leading repertory theaters. 

Just as Huffman had to work to find an audience for his recipes and products, so does he aim to widen the base of the Cinematheque. Specifically, his plan is to continue doing a little of what both Ewing, who retired in June 2024, and Sisman, who left in April, did best, stocking the calendar with fresh combinations of classic, international and niche films. 

“I think I’m going to be a hybrid of both of them,” Huffman said. 

He’s also a fan of thematic programming and audience “training.” Huffman’s current plans, for instance, include a “Bleak Week,” a stint of dark-themed films, and building habits by presenting certain types of films at the same time each week or month.

Both of these practices Huffman learned from his earlier work in the field. Before he moved to Cleveland in 1997, Huffman worked for Regal Cinemas and ran the campus film series at Bowling Green State University, where he studied film history. 

More recently, he was guest services manager at the Provincetown International Film Festival and carved a successful niche for himself as director of marketing at Cleveland Cinemas, where he gained a somewhat inaccurate reputation for being a fan of horror films (he can’t stand gore). He’s also sometimes been accused of being lowbrow, which is fine by him. 

One thing Huffman does not plan to do is shrink the circle. The profound responsibility he feels in taking over a Cleveland institution – “It is a little intimidating,” he said – does not include any sense of obligation to a particular genre or type of film. Indeed, as the leader of a nonprofit, he said his mandate is to not be bound by a film’s power to sell tickets. 

As Huffman sees it, his only real restraint at the Cinematheque is physical; The theater can’t present IMAX or 3D films. Beyond that, almost anything is fair game, he said. 

“Pretty much anything’s on the table,” Huffman said. “We really don’t have a lot of limitations about what we can and cannot show… Some movies are just so much better on the big screen, in a room with lots of people. Some movies you really need that experience to appreciate.”

Unlike his taste in film, which is broad, Huffman’s ambitions in his new role are fairly specific. Long before he thought of working for the Cinematheque, he was a regular there, and so knows better than most where there’s room for improvement. 

Job number one, in his mind, is raising the theater’s profile, locally and nationally. 

Huffman is fine with the fact that most people don’t realize how “weird” the film business is, how miraculous it is that any film gets made. What he’s not OK with is Clevelanders taking the Cinematheque for granted, being unaware that along with classical music, art and dance, Northeast Ohio is also a hotspot for film.

“So many people have no idea we’re even here,” Huffman said of the Cinematheque. “I’m going to consider fixing that one of my primary goals. Most cities like Cleveland don’t have this. The fact that we have this, it’s really something special.”