A First Look at the Ohio-Made Movie ‘Lost & Found in Cleveland’

A lot of movies are made in Cleveland, but not a lot of movies are both made and set in Cleveland. I can think of one off the top of my head, “Draft Day,” but that’s part of the playbook when the film’s main character works in the Cleveland Browns’ front office. Even Ralphie Parker of “A Christmas Story” — arguably the city’s most famous on-screen resident — lived in the town of Hohman, Indiana, in that movie.

Now, Cleveland gets top billing in a film that was not only made here in early 2023 but also presents the city as a rich backdrop for its characters. “Lost & Found in Cleveland” features an ensemble cast that includes Martin Sheen, Dennis Haysbert, June Squibb and Stacy Keach, as well as Loretta Devine, John Lovitz, Liza Weil and Mark L. Wahlberg (the former “Antiques Roadshow” and “Temptation Island” host, not Donnie’s brother) among many others.

Dennis Haysbert (left) and Martin Sheen (right) from ”Lost & Found in Cleveland” (photo courtesy of  ”Lost & Found in Cleveland”)

The movie is told over the course of 24 hours, as the arrival of an “Antiques Roadshow”-style television program named “Lost & Found” draws together the stories of five diverse characters. The film premiered Oct. 19 at the Newport Beach Film Festival in California and is now in talks for distribution.  

Earlier this year, I sat down via video call with Keith Gerchak and Marisa Guterman, the creative duo who co-wrote and co-directed the film, to talk about their inspiration for the feel-good flick and why it may just be the sort of movie we could all use right now.

June Squibb (left) and Stacy Keach from ”Lost & Found in Cleveland” (photo courtesy of  ”Lost & Found in Cleveland”)

“I always had this idea to write something about ‘Antiques Road Show,’ because I was fascinated by it,” Guterman said. “I watched it with my dad growing up, and I just fell in love with these people coming in with their objects. I have an art-history brain, and what I always loved about art history was the story behind the art. ‘Antiques Roadshow’ is just very pure storytelling.”

A native of Los Angeles, Guterman wasn’t big on the idea of setting the film in California. That was when Gerchak, who is from Cleveland, suggested his hometown as the backdrop. Guterman didn’t know much about the Midwest at the time, but after exploring Cleveland, its architecture, its industry and its history, the initial idea to create a “Best in Show”-type mockumentary was traded in for a tale that that captured the essence of Clevelanders.

“Once I got to know Cleveland, I fell in love with the people,” Guterman said. “There’s an earnestness to telling a story about Clevelanders. … We really wanted to capture a story about their dreams and do that honestly.”

Gerchak said he looks at “Lost & Found in Cleveland” as a story about the American Dream, much like the famous television show upon which the film draws its inspiration.

“Getting to know ‘Antiques Roadshow’ itself, [the executive producers said] that series has always been about the American dream as well. … For us to be able to ask the question, ‘Does the American dream still exist? And, if so, does it exist for everybody?’ … For us to be able to point and say, yeah, emphatically, it does, and it exists in Cleveland … that is kind of a wonderful thing.”

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