The Cleveland International Film Festival promotes artistically and culturally significant films, and for its forty-third festival, organizers wanted to transform its venue, Tower City Cinemas, into a warm and inviting space to align with its festival theme, “Welcome.” One of the ways the film festival sought to create this experience for its 105,656 attendees was by using window, wall, and floor graphics. To help bring their vision to life, the Cleveland International Film Festival sought expertise from those nearby at Repros, a large format production facility, and Type Twenty Seven Design & Letterpress, a graphic design firm.
For many years, Repros has been printing and installing wall, window and floor graphics to meet their customers’ unique needs. Upon learning of the film festival’s objective, Repros reached out to Type Twenty Seven Owner and Creative Director Brittyn Dewerth for graphic design assistance. Repros and Dewerth worked together to create window, wall and floor graphics for the venue.
Wall graphics welcomed the festival’s filmmakers and attendees to the event in many languages, and window graphics featured photographs of people from many countries with corresponding “welcome” text in the individual’s primary language. The photos of individuals featured on window graphics were captured by event photographer Keith Berr Productions. Floor graphics provided directional indicators for event attendees while reinforcing the festival theme.
For the window graphics, Repros and Dewerth chose Mactac’s IMAGin® B-free Frosted Window Film (JX5796MBF)—which is known for its ability to apply quickly and easily while eliminating any graphic wrinkling or bubbling. The graphics were printed on an HP XL 3000 latex printer.
“We were thrilled with how this product captured the detail of the photography,” Dewerth said. “In addition, the ability to die cut the material allowed us to focus light while blocking out the distant scenery—resulting in beautiful typography stretching across the floor as the day progressed. We could not be happier and look forward to using this again.”
IMAGin B-free Frosted Window Film is a 3.1-mil translucent, matte-frosted polymeric PVC film. It is coated on one side with a micro-structured, repositionable permanent clear acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive and is supplied with 80# polycoated layflat liner.
For the wall graphics at the Cleveland International Film Festival, Repros and Dewerth chose Mactac’s IMAGin® ROODLETM Removable Wall Graphics (RO628W54L100) and MACmark® MACtransfer® Application Tape (ST1054). The graphics were printed on an HP XL 3000 latex printer.
IMAGin ROODLE is a 6.0-mil matte-white, semi-rigid vinyl print media. It is coated on one side with an aggressive, removable acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive and is supplied with a 90# SuperFlat™ polyethylene coated kraft liner. It is designed for removable indoor wall graphic applications on smooth, flat surfaces.
MACmark MACtransfer is a white, 4.3-mil application tape consisting of a translucent saturated paper stock coated on one side with a medium tack, pressure-sensitive adhesive. It is designed to assist in the transfer and application of medium and large pressure-sensitive decals that have been die cut into letters, legends, striping, and logos.
For the floor graphics, Repros and Dewerth chose Mactac’s Rebel Removable Multi-Print Media (RB528RW54L150). The graphics were printed on an HP XL 3000 latex printer, and were overlaid with PERMACOLOR PermaFlex Textured Laminate (PF6554).
Rebel Removable Multi-Print Media is a 4-mil soft, non-top coated, opaque matte white polymeric stabilized vinyl coated on one side with a clear acrylic removable adhesive and supplied with a 90# SuperFlat Liner. Its unique adhesive has a moderate initial tack and maintains an even, low-strength bond with good resistance to creep, solvents and heat.
PERMACOLOR PermaFlex is a 4.3-mil clear, luster-textured vinyl floor cold overlaminate coated on one side with a permanent acrylic adhesive and supplied with a 60# kraft liner. Its luster textured finish is designed to eliminate glare.
“When it comes to choosing the right material for interior window, wall and floor graphics, consistency is key,” said Repros Color and Purchasing Specialist Rod Loy. “The Mactac products we used for this Cleveland International Film Festival project offered incredible consistency—from printing to cutting to installation—resulting in flawless finished graphics that completely transformed the look and feel of the venue.”
