The 28th Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) will screen 389 films representing 63 countries, from November 7 to 17. The festival will kick off on Thursday, November 7, with the local premiere of the much-lauded “Marriage Story,” starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, and directed by Noah Baumbach.
An annual presentation of the nonprofit Cinema St. Louis, the 2019 Whitaker St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase serves as the area’s primary venue for films made by local artists. The Showcase screened works that are written, directed, edited, or produced by St. Louis residents or films and filmmakers with strong local ties.
“Green Book” directed by Peter Farrelly[/caption]
The St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) presented seven major filmmaking awards during the course of the 2018 festival, with the award for Best Film going to “Green Book” directed by Peter Farrelly. Other awards include Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Awards to Jim Finn, Jane Gilooly, and Karyn Kusama; Women in Film Award to Melanie Mayron; Lifetime Achievement Award to Joe Edwards and John Goodman; and the Contemporary Cinema Award to Jason Reitman.
DESTROYER Starring Nicole Kidman[/caption]
The 27th Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) will run November 1 to 11, and screen 413 films: 88 narrative features, 77 documentary features, and 248 shorts. The fest also will feature 14 special-event programs, including the closing-night awards presentation.
The festival will kick off on Thursday, November 1, with the local premiere of “Destroyer,” directed by former St. Louisan Karyn Kusama, who will attend the screening.
SLIFF will present the 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 the 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; and Melanie Mayron with a Women in Film Award.
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.
“Romeo Is Bleeding” directed by Jason Zeldes was a hit at the 2015 St Louis International Film Festival winning both the St. Louis Film Critics Association Joe Pollack and Joe Williams Awards for Best Documentary Feature and the Best of Fest Audience Choice Award – Leon Award for Best Documentary Film. In Romeo Is Bleeding, a young writer Donté Clark growing up in a city divided by a turf war, channels Shakespeare to help heal the ills of his community.
Other top winning films include “Once in a Lifetime” directed by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar taking the St. Louis Film Critics Association Joe Pollack and Joe Williams Award for Best Narrative Feature. The other audience favorite films include “Unlikely Heroes” directed by Peter Luisi winning the TV5MONDE Award for Best International Film, and “The Last Mentsch” directed by Pierre-Henry Salfati voted Best Film.
24th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival Awards
Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award: Alex Winter
Women in Film Award: Rosemary Rodriguez
Contemporary Cinema Award: Trent Harris
Shorts Awards
Best Documentary Short: “The Surrender” directed by Stephen Maing
Best Local Short: “Ferguson 365” directed by Chris Phillips
Best Short Short: “Deathsong” directed by Malcolm Sutherland
Best International Short: “Levitation” directed by Marko Mestrovic
Best Animated Short: “Borrowed Time” directed by Andrew Coats & Lou Hamou-Lhadj
Best Live-Action Short: “Birthday” directed by Chris King
Best of Fest: “Beverley” directed by Alexander Thomas
Midrash Award
“Four Way Stop” directed by Efi da Silva
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY5CpWtz2XQ
Interfaith Awards
Best Documentary Feature: “Thao’s Library” directed by Elizabeth Van Meter
https://vimeo.com/125478494
Best Narrative Feature: “Three Windows and a Hanging” directed by Isa Qosja
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOnKHG13vXM
Alliance of Women Film Journalists’ EDA Award @ SLIFF
Best Documentary Feature: “Once My Mother” directed by Sophia Turkiewicz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO6aTLM8X5s
Best Narrative Feature: “Fidélio: Alice’s Odyssey” directed by Lucie Borleteau
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF02VEgdlqw
St. Louis Film Critics Association Joe Pollack and Joe Williams Awards
Best Documentary Feature: “Romeo Is Bleeding” directed by Jason Zeldes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjdh-TmRQCQ
Best Narrative Feature: “Once in a Lifetime” directed by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdvhyY1_rxw
Best of Fest Audience Choice Awards
Leon Award for Best Documentary Film: “Romeo Is Bleeding” directed by Jason Zeldes
TV5MONDE Award for Best International Film: “Unlikely Heroes” directed by Peter Luisi
Best Film: “The Last Mentsch” directed by Pierre-Henry Salfati
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9L_ypD7KnI
New Filmmakers Forum Emerging Director Award (The Bobbie)
“Aram, Aram” directed by Christopher Chambers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BNiJtVDrTY
The 23rd Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) will be held November 13 to 23, and will screen 389 films, including 89 narrative features, 76 documentary features, and 224 shorts. The festival will open on Thursday, Nov. 13, with the premiere of “The Makings of You,” a St. Louis-set and -shot drama by Matt Amato. An award-winning director of music videos and commercials, Amato returned to his hometown of St. Louis to shoot his feature debut, which stars Jay R. Ferguson (of “Mad Men”) and Sheryl Lee and Grace Zabriskie (both of “Twin Peaks”). Ferguson and Zabriskie will attend.
Academy Award winning writer/director Oliver Stone will be honored at the 22nd Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF), taking place November 14 to 24, 2013. Stone will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award on Friday, November 22, 2013. Directors who have previously been honored with a SLIFF Lifetime Achievement Award include Paul Schrader, John Sayles, Michael Apted, and Joe Dante.
Held on the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the program will feature a screening of the director’s cut of Stone’s “JFK.” The evening will begin with a clip reel surveying Stone’s career, the presentation of the award, and a conversation between Stone and St. Louis Post-Dispatch film critic Joe Williams that explores the director’s career generally and “JFK” specifically. At the conclusion of the interview, Stone will introduce a Kennedy-focused segment from his most recent work, “The Untold History of theUnited States,” and “JFK” will screen after the excerpt.