Last time you went to the Ohio Independent Film Festival you needed your winter coat. Now, as the latest OIFF happens, it's T-shirt weather. Global warming strikes again? Actually, it merely reflects the OIFF moving from its accustomed November time slot to May. Most of the international shorts, features, live-action, animation, special presentations and filmmaker Q&As still take place at the traditional venue, the Cleveland Public Theater (6415 Detroit Rd.), such as tonight's 7 p.m. feature Who Does She Think She Is?, which interviews women in the arts trying to juggle motherhood, family and the artists' life. Tomorrow is Ohio Day, devoted to works done in the Buckeye state. Expect comic shorts by Columbus-based satirist Sheldon Gleisser and Ohio features like the 6 p.m. action-thriller from Columbus and West Virginia called The Courier. Clevelander Robert Banks and his much-anticipated 16mm noir short Crime Drunk, precede the 8 p.m. highlight Kingsbury Run, a grim serial-killer horror tale shot around Cleveland about a young filmmaker's too-deep inquest into the never-solved Cleveland Torso Murders. The OIFF continues through Sunday, with the world premiere of The Rapture, an eagerly awaited local spin on X-Man mythos with dueling mutants in a government facility, CGI f/x, the whole shebang, shot in Cleveland and Port Clinton. It shows at 7 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday. Truly an OIFF big ticket is Chasin' Gus' Ghost, the debut feature of local businessman Todd Kwait. It's a personal investigation into the unsung history of jug-band music, with expeditions to Tennessee, Louisiana and even Japan. It screens at 7 p.m. Friday at the Rock Hall with a party/concert/buffet immediately following at the Park Lane Villa Ballroom (10510 Park Ln., University Circle). This special gala is $75; other programs are $10. Call 216.651.7315 or go to ohiofilms.com for more info. — Charles Cassady Jr.

THURSDAY, MAY 8

WVIZ/PBS Auction

Cleveland's PBS TV outlet WVIZ has been offering an alternative to the "vast wasteland" of network TV for 40 years. It celebrates this week with (what else?) its annual televised auction. From 3 p.m. today through Sunday evening, the station will be taking bids via phone and the Internet on items ranging from sports tickets, a one-year gym membership and an ice-skating party to the usual array of meals in local restaurants and trips to all sorts of places including the Bahamas, Montreal and Santa Fe. Go to WVIZ.org for more info. — Anastasia Pantsios

SATURDAY, MAY 10

Migratory Bird Day

Unless there's a bottleneck because Homeland Security demanded ID from the border-crossing avians, today is International Migratory Bird Day. One spot for bird-watching is Magee Marsh area's Sportsmen's Migratory Bird Center (Rt. 6, 17 miles east of Port Clinton in Ottawa County), one of the nation's top birding locations. Busloads of visitors make the pilgrimage here with high-powered optics and cameras from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. There are wagon tours of the marsh from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., decoy-carving demos and live presentations of eagles, hawks and owls, plus prize drawings. It's free; call 419.898.0960, ext. 31 for info. Closer to home, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (3900 Wildlife Way, 216.661.6500) has a celebration of IMBD geared for the young from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Pretend to be a migratory bird and head to various checkpoints around the zoo to be tagged, measured and enroll in various activities. It's free with regular zoo admission, $10 adults, $6 children. — CC

History of the Hanna Theatre

Among Cleveland's greatest treasures are its Playhouse Square theaters, which narrowly escaped the wrecking ball in the '70s. The Hanna on East 14th, built in 1921 and now being converted into a permanent home for the Great Lakes Theater Festival, is the topic of local theater historian John Vacha's book, From Broadway to Cleveland: A History of the Hanna Theatre. Vacha will give an illustrated lecture based on the book at the main branch of the Cleveland Public Library (325 Superior Ave.) at 2 p.m. Copies will be available for sale and there'll be light refreshments as well. It's free and open to the public. Call 216.623.2821. — AP

Walk for Hunger

The good news is that Cleveland finally has a growth industry. The bad news is it's Hunger Walks. Cuyahoga County's biggest, the annual 5-K Walk For Hunger, benefits 36 hunger centers and 18 hot-meal sites of the Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland throughout the crucial summer months, when kids can no longer rely on the school lunches that are often their only big meal of the day. There's no fee to participate, but the sporting thing would be to contribute at least $35 for a Walk for Hunger T-shirt. Register in advance (216.619.8155, ext. 18) or on-site at the Burke Lakefront Airport terminal from 8:45-9:45 a.m. After a kick-off and Jazzercize rally, participants walk along a route taking in the Rock Hall, Great Lakes Science Center, Browns Stadium, Public Square and the Q, then cross the finish line at North Coast Harbor and celebrate. A Kids' Fun Tent allows junior participants to make Mother's Day cards, and there will be clowns, jugglers, live music and, appropriately, a free lunch. For info go to hungernetwork.org. — CC

Raw Umber Artists Collective benefit

Many of you may recall the theft of an entire art show from the Waterloo district's True Art Gallery earlier this year - the last show before the gallery's scheduled closing, which featured art by six local artists calling themselves the Raw Umber Collective. Supporters are holding a benefit to help compensate the artists at the Bratenahl Community Center (10300 Brighton Rd., off Lakeshore Blvd.) from 7 p.m.-midnight. A $15 suggested donation (but any donation will be gladly accepted) gets guests food, drinks, a raffle ticket and music by guitarist Doug Wood, the Attention Deficit Glee Club and Po' Boy, as well as a chance to hobnob with artsy folks. Go to freewebs.com/rawumber for info. — AP

Pangea Day

What would you do if someone gave you $100,000 to help make the world a better place? When documentary filmmaker Jehane Noujaim received the TED Award, she created Pangea Day, a four-hour global event of films (24 chosen from over 2,500 submitted from around the world), music and speeches originating from six locations: Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumba and Rio de Janeiro. The goal is to create a sense of shared mission to inspire people to change the world. The event, broadcast in seven languages, will be viewed in homes and gathering places all over the world. And although you can watch at home via Current TV, it's the sort of thing best shared with a group, since what you see will hopefully stimulate discussion. A Pangea Day gathering will happen at Lakeland Community College (I-90 and Rt. 306) from 1:30-6 p.m. in rooms H-101 and H-1095. It's free and open to the public. Call 440.525.7029 for info. Screenings also take place at Talkie's Film and Coffee Bar (2521 Market Ave.) and Sergio's Sarava (13225 Shaker Square). They're also free but space is limited and reservations are required; go to haiglobal.com. — AP

SUNDAY, MAY 11

Mother's Day

May 11 is set aside to pay tribute to that special lady to whom we owe everything, who must always be honored, obeyed, respected and never questioned: Hillary Clinton. This of course refers to May 11, 2010 or 2011, whenever a puppet Congress passes the legislation. Here in the past, May 11 remains an archaic holiday called Mother's Day. At the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (3900 Wildlife Way, 216.661.6500), moms receive a free admission. There will be special exhibits on animal moms and their offspring and nurturing behavior in nature, and a Mother's Day brunch available with seatings at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Over in Milan, south of Sandusky, the incredible Chef's Garden and Culinary Vegetable Institute has a sumptuous Mother's Day brunch with seatings at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and a veggie-leaning menu with exotic nuts, candied veggies, mushrooms, beets and rutabaga plus the traditional salmon and prime rib. Go to culinaryvegetableinstitute.com or phone 419.499.7500 for info. The Cleveland Botanical Garden (11030 East Blvd.) holds Mother's Day brunches amidst the blooms from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; call 216.707.2863 for reservations. Peace activists and civic organizations are contributing to a Mother's Day celebration at 2 p.m. at the India Cultural Garden on MLK Blvd. - look for the statue of Gandhi. It commemorates that Mother's Day had its roots in post-Civil War recovery from carnage. And the United States has always worked tirelessly for peace since, right? Finally, Lake View Cemetery (12316 Euclid Ave.) holds its 20th annual Mother's Day walking tour from 2-4 p.m., starting at the Garfield Monument and hosted by local author Vicki Vigil, visiting the final resting places of illustrious matrons of the Western Reserve. It's $5; reservations are required. Phone 216.421.2665. — CC

TUESDAY, MAY 13

Jeff Shaara

If the last slobbering John McCain paean from a mainstream media commentator didn't give you your fill of he-manly war-hero worship, try a novel by best-selling author Jeff Shaara, who has written vividly about war from both a micro and a macro view in eight books. His newly published ninth book, The Steel Wave, the second of his World War II trilogy, covers D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. As a novel, it imagines the specific thoughts and actions of participants ranging from Dwight Eisenhower, Omar Bradley and Winston Churchill down to the battlefield experiences of anonymous foot soldiers, all placed within a deeply researched and historically accurate context. Shaara will be reading from his book and signing it at 7 tonight at Joseph-Beth Booksellers (24519 Cedar Rd., Lyndhurst, 216.691.7000). It's free. — AP