From Oberlin to CIFF: Dickler's "Big Bass" hooks a personal story

• It will screen on April 14 and 15 at the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) as part of the DReam Maker Shorts Program, highlighting short films with LGBTQ+ themes.

Between the lines: The festival is a homecoming of sorts for Dickler, who graduated from Oberlin College in 2012.

• "This festival means a lot to me," she says. "The Cleveland audience is always so locked in with such a great turnout each year."

Flashback: Long before Oberlin, Dickler was a student at Germantown Friends School in her native Philadelphia, where "Big Bass" is set during 1997.

• That's where Dickler bonded with Cheryl Bruttomesso, a lesbian gym teacher who served as an inspiration for Dickler when she came out later in life.

Zoom in: In the film, Dickler visits Bruttomesso, who is still a teacher at the school.

• The two share memories and tears on camera, and reunite with the plastic fish that served as Dickler's childhood fidget toy.

The bottom line: "It's a film that hits that vulnerable spot and has a kind of '90s nostalgia gut punch," Dickler says. "I can't wait for Ohio to see it."