Besides the three documentaries reviewed in this issue, the St. Louis International Film Festival offers a few other films that may interest readers of the Jewish Light.

There are several excellent short films in the program, including some from Israel. The “Documentary Shorts: Women Around the Globe” (free, shown at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8 at the Tivoli) includes two. “Exit” focuses on two women who face custody fights and other difficulties after leaving their ultra orthodox community. “Keren Or” (“A Ray of Light”) is the story of a resilient single mother fighting to survive in unexpected circumstances. 

In “Documentary Shorts: Animated Lives” (free, 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2 at the Tivoli), “5 Years After The War” is a French tale of growing up with an absent Iraqi father and a very-present Jewish mother. 

There are two narrative shorts. In Narrative Shorts: Animation 2 (9:10 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4 at the Tivoli), the Israeli short “America” focuses on a mother and her son in 1950s Tel Aviv who receive a message with an invitation from America. In “Narrative Shorts: Baring It All” (8:45 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3 at the Tivoli), there is the Israeli short “Barefoot” about an actress waiting for her big break.

There are also two narrative features that may interest Jewish audiences. 

“Memoir of War” (noon Friday, Nov. 2 and noon Sunday, Nov. 4, both at Plaza Frontenac), a powerful French language film, based on Marguerite Duras’ memoir, is a nominee for SLIFF’s Interfaith Award as well as a potential Oscar nominee. The main character is a woman with the French Resistance who starts along a quest to find information on her husband after his arrest in 1944. She continues into the post-war years and is joined by other women looking for loved ones. The most striking of these is Mrs. Katz, a Jewish woman who is convinced her daughter will return any day. The part is played by Shulamit Adar in a show-stopping performance and sparks the main character (and the film) to reflect on how much higher a price Jewish families paid in the war, putting her own troubles in a new perspective.

“The Captain” (8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8 and 12:15 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, both at Plaza Frontenac) is a chilling German drama, based on a true story, of a German deserter in the waning days of World War II who dons a Nazi officer’s uniform and assembles a following of stragglers. Under his sway, they begin to carry out brutal actions and executions; orders he tells them, come straight from the Fuhrer. The film is a condemnation of the brutality and mindless cooperation among the Nazis, and is described as presenting “fascism as a game to be played on the gullible by the unscrupulous.”