Lineup for the 27th St. Louis International Film Festival Announced – To be Held November 1-11

The 27th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) — held Nov. 1-11 — ​provides St. Louis filmgoers with the opportunity to view the finest in world cinema: international films, documentaries, American indies, and shorts that can only be seen on the big screen at the festival. ​SLIFF will screen 413 films: 88 narrative features, 77 documentary features, and 248 shorts. The fest also will feature 14 special-event programs, including our closing-night awards presentation. This year’s festival has 63 countries represented.

SLIFF will present our usual array of fest buzz films and Oscar contenders, including “3 Faces,” “Ash Is Purest White,” “Ben Is Back,” “Boy Erased,” “Capernaum,” “The Captain,” “The Chaperone,” “Cold War,” “Destroyer,” “Diane,” “Dogman,” “Everybody Knows,” “The Front Runner,” “Green Book,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “The Image Book,” “Little Woods,” “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” “Mapplethorpe,” “Non-Fiction,” “Shoplifters,” “Support the Girls,” “Transit,” “Vox Lux,” “Widows,” “Wildlife,” and “Zama.”

The festival will honor seven significant film figures with our annual awards: ● Joe Edwards​​ and ​John Goodman​​ with Lifetime Achievement Awards ● ​Jason Reitman​​ with a Contemporary Cinema Award ● Jim Finn​​, ​Jane Gillooly​​, and ​Karyn Kusama​​ with Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Awards ● Melanie Mayron​​ with a Women in Film Award.
The festival will kick off on Thursday, Nov. 1, with the local premiere of “Destroyer,” directed by former St. Louisan Karyn Kusama, who will attend the screening. A 6:30 PM reception precedes the film and features complimentary Urban Chestnut beers, Broadside Winery wines, and cocktails.

As part of the fest’s ongoing response to the Ferguson uprising, SLIFF again will feature a major stream of programming entitled Race in America: The Black Experience and offer a third edition of Mean Streets: Viewing the Divided City Through the Lens of Film and Television, which addresses the persistent issue of segregation. The fest schedule, ticket and venue information, and a complete list of films (with descriptions) are available at the Cinema St. Louis Web site (cinemastlouis.org).
For more information,​​ the public should visit cinemastlouis.org or call 314-289-4150.
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Centene Center for Arts & Education, 3547 Olive Street, St. Louis, MO 63103-1000   Phone: 314.289.4150​​ • ​​ Fax: 314.289.4159 ​​ • ​​ Website: cinemastlouis.org

Program Overview

SLIFF’s stellar lineup features a constellation of cinema’s brightest lights (see the SLIFF section of the CSL website for full info):

● Major awards to significant filmmakers: ➢ Lifetime Achievement Awards: developer Joe Edwards and actor John Goodman ➢ Contemporary Cinema Award: director Jason Reitman ➢ Women in Film Award: actress and director Melanie Mayron ➢ Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Awards: directors Jim Finn, Jane Gillooly, and Karyn Kusama

● Oscar​®​ Contenders.

● Free Events: SLIFF continues its tradition of offering a large selection of free events to maximize its outreach into the community and to make the festival affordable to all. This year, we offer 65 free events, which are detailed on our website. In addition, for the 15th year, we present the Georgia Frontiere Cinema for Students Program, which provides free screenings (often with filmmakers in attendance) to St. Louis-area elementary, middle, and high schools. Films are offered both at our venues and for in-school presentation. Busing reimbursement is also available. For more information, visit cinemastlouis.org.

● Show-Me Cinema Showcase (films with St. Louis and Missouri roots or connections).

● Mean Streets: Viewing the Divided City Through the Lens of Film and Television: SLIFF offers a third edition of this program, which addresses one of the most persistent and vexing issues in urban studies: segregation.

● Race in America: 33 programs that address the black experience from multiple perspectives. ● Human Rights Showcase: A selection of 14 documentary programs focused on human-rights issues in the U.S. and the world.

● SLIFF/Kids Family Films, including six free programs. ● Festival award-winners and critically lauded international films. ● Well-regarded American indies.

● Nearly 250 shorts from around the globe, including free family and documentary-shorts programs and a selection of the best films from the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase. ● Major documentaries, including eight documentary-shorts programs.

● A strong selection of animation, including two dedicated animated-shorts programs.

● Revivals and restorations.

● The New Filmmakers Forum (NFF), a juried competition for first-time American-independent filmmakers. The films will be accompanied by their directors.

Sponsors:

Title Sponsor:​​ Whitaker Foundation Sustaining Sponsors:​​ Albrecht Family Foundation, Cheshire, City of St. Louis, Jeffrey T. Fort, Hawkins Foundation, Jane M. & Bruce P. Robert Charitable Foundation, Ward & Carol Klein, Nancy & Ken Kranzberg, Missouri Arts Council, NEA ArtWorks, Regional Arts Commission, Chip Rosenbloom & Lucia Rosenbloom, Sleepy Kitty Arts, Steward Family Foundation, Mary Strauss, Trio Foundation of St. Louis, William A. Kerr Foundation