Movie venues across the region will host hundreds of screenings November 1–11 as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival. Whether you want to keep it local or discover new places, get lost in fiction or revel in reality, the 10-day festival makes it easy to expand your horizons. The difficult part: choosing which films to see.
Fiddlin’
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This doc, showcasing the world’s longest-running fiddler convention, in Appalachia, will be screened at an apt location: KDHX’s The Stage. The filmmakers will be in attendance, as will 13-year-old guitar prodigy Presley Barker, who won the adult competition at age 11.
I, Douglas Fairbanks
Webster University hosts this documentary featuring the famous swashbuckler, coupled with his 1916 silent film The Half-Breed, recently restored and accompanied by an original score performed live by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra.
Where the Pavement Ends
St. Louis native Jane Gillooly directed this documentary, which explores the relationship between Ferguson and neighboring Kinloch. It screens with the short “Baby Brother,” made by Mizzou assistant film professor Kamau Bilal.
The Center of Nowhere
Springfield, Missouri, is a font of music-making, and this doc is centered on Lou Whitney, Springfield native and force behind such bands as The Morells and The Skeletons. Abbey Waterworth, who created an album of cover songs featuring Springfield-related artists, performs in conjunction with the screening.
Ash Is Purest White
Director Jia Zhangke’s narrative feature takes the audience on a 16-year journey throughout picturesque (and rapidly changing) China, chronicling the story of a loyal girlfriend whose love leads her on a search to find her boyfriend after they spend years apart in prison.
Cold War
Pawel Pawlikowski’s black-and-white film, set in postwar Poland, Germany, Yugoslavia, and France, follows a temperamental couple struggling to stay in love.
Black Voices
Comprising films by St. Louisans, about St. Louis, or both, this Doc Shorts program brings to light a range of important issues. It screens for free at .ZACK on the festival’s final weekend.
Wildlife
Starring Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal and directed by Paul Dano, this highly anticipated adaptation of Richard Ford’s 1990 novel is set in 1960 small-town Montana. The film portrays teenage Joe, who witnesses the crumbling of his parents’ marriage, his father’s struggle to find work, and his mother’s secret depression.
The Big Lebowski
It’s been 20 years since the release of this cult favorite, co-starring St. Louis native John Goodman, who will be in town on the festival’s first weekend to accept SLIFF’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Classics
The Golden Anniversaries series features six films that revolve around the year 1968:
- Once Upon a Time in the West (the Sergio Leone spaghetti Western)
- Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski’s eerie thriller)
- Bullitt (starring Steve McQueen as a detective in San Francisco)
- Pretty Poison (starring Anthony Perkins as a troubled man who’s betrayed by his girlfriend)
- Medium Cool (the genre-defying drama shot during the riotous Democratic National Convention in Chicago)
- Shampoo (the 1975 rom-com, which will screen with Hal,a documentary about director Hal Ashby)
