SLIFF 2014 – Roberta Collins Tribute with Screening of CAGED HEAT & Live Music November 22nd

CAGED HEAT screens Saturday November 22nd at 8pm as part of The St. Louis International Film Festival. There will also be a concert by Stace England and the Screen Syndicate, who play an album of songs inspired by Roberta Collins, one of the film’s stars. The Venue is KDHX (3524 Washington Boulevard‎ St Louis, MO 63103)

I love Women’s prison films – CHAINED HEAT, HELLHOLE, ILSA SHE WOLF OF THE SS, THE BIG BIRD CAGE, THE BIG DOLL HOUSE, REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS, and THE CONCRETE JUNGLE all sit proudly on my WIP (Women in Prison) DVD shelf. One of the very best of this beloved subgenre is CAGED HEAT (1974), a wonderful exploitation masterpiece and the directing debut of Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme, that has everything you could possibly hope for in a Women-In-Prison movie: nudity, shower catfights, lesbian coupling, race wars, murder, chain-swinging, switch-blade slashing, and shock therapy!

Wow! You’re probably assuming such a sleazy low-brow trash epic must be playing at Late Night Grindhouse or something of that cult-embracing ilk but no…..CAGED HEAT is playing at this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) !!!

This special event is part of SLIFF’s special Tribute to Roberta Collins. The late Ms Collins was one of the stars of CAGED HEAT and at this year’s SLIFF, Screen Syndicate, a side project of Southern Illinois-based Americana band Stace England and the Salt Kings, explores the fascinating history of Roger Corman’s New World Pictures and the exploitation films made by the company in the 1970s. The life of actress Roberta Collins — a Hollywood story of sadly unfulfilled promise — is the vehicle used to navigate the period. Collins lit up the screen in films like THE BIG DOLL HOUSE, WOMEN IN CAGES, DEATH RACE 2000, and even appeared with Charles Bronson in DEATH WISH 2. But Collins was unable to break out of the B-movie grind, playing minor roles in increasingly poor productions before finally exiting the business. She died in obscurity in 2008. Screen Syndicate combines original songs, film clips, trailers, and other material into a unique live-music experience that pays tribute to Collins. The band has performed at numerous film festivals in the U.S. and Europe — appearing twice at SLIFF — with shows about pioneering African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux and Cairo, Ill.

Stace England and the Salt Kings

CHAINED HEAT stars Erica Gavin (of Russ Meyer’s VIXEN fame) as Jackie, an accomplice in a drug related crime, who enters the ‘D-Cup’ wing of a tough women’s prison run by a hateful, wheelchair-bound lesbian warden played by none other than my favorite actress of all time (after Pam Grier of course)…Barbara Steele! Jackie’s cell mate Lavelle (Cheryl Rainbeuax Smith – another tragic ‘70s Drive-In fave who deserves her own tribute) suffers from suicidal nightmares while another prisoner, Pandora (Ella Reid), is reprimanded for entertaining her fellow inmates with a mildly lewd vaudeville act and placed in solitary confinement. Her loyal friend Belle (Roberta Collins) begins sneaking through the ventilation ducts to bring her food from the kitchen until she’s caught when she surprises an elderly staff member who abruptly dies of a heart attack. Meanwhile, the prison bully Maggie (Juanita Brown) picks a fight with Jackie and gets them both in hot water. Though the warden is a bit stern, the real threat turns out to be the demented prison doctor (Warren Miller). He subjects Jackie and Maggie to illegal electric shock therapy and prescribes a more permanent `cure’ for Belle: corrective brain surgery, which he intends to perform with a Black and Decker power drill!!!

All of the actresses at at their best in CAGED HEAT but Ms Collins really does steal the show as the endearingly faithful Belle. Jonathan Demme’s script provides believable characters and several imaginative dream sequences, and his direction is filled with impressive camera angles and novel wipes and dissolves. He even commissioned an appropriately down and dirty soundtrack from blues legend John Cale. Because of these frequent artistic flourishes, CAGED HEAT is one of the few WIP movies to win the respect of critics. Demme of course went on to even bigger (but not necessarily better) things, becoming one of the most successful directors of his generation, winning the Best Director Academy Award in 1991 for THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, but in my book CAGED HEAT is still his greatest achievement!

CHAINED HEAT is the crowning jewel of all Women’s Prison films and if you don’t make it to the St. Louis International Film Festival on November 22nd to see it, then something is wrong with you!

More details and ticket information about this event can be found HERE

http://www.cinemastlouis.org/tribute-roberta-collins

The 23rd Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) will be held Nov. 13-23. SLIFF will screen 389 films: 89 narrative features, 76 documentary features, and 224 shorts. This year’s festival has 239 screenings/programs, with 69 countries represented. The fest will host more than 125 filmmakers and related guests, including honorees Doug Pray (Contemporary Cinema Award), Katie Mustard (Women in Film Award), and Timothy J. Sexton (Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award).

Visit Cinema St. Louis site where the entire fest schedule is posted and start marking your calendars

http://www.cinemastlouis.org/about-festival