Fall colors are finally here and so is the 33rd annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF), presented by Cinema St. Louis, which runs from Thursday, Nov. 7, through Nov. 17.
“Our theme this year [is] ‘The Great Escape,’ ” said Emmett Williams, Cinema St. Louis’ festival curation and education director. “Opening two days after the election means that everyone is going to be tense and nervous no matter the result. We wanted to provide a refuge for people to get away from reality and be part of a community. A movie theater is a great place to let go, be with others and share a common experience.”
Many of the festival films will be shown at the Hi-Pointe Theater, which nonprofit Cinema St. Louis bought last year. Others will be shown at Washington University’s Brown Hall, B&B Creve Coeur West Olive Theater, Webster University’s Winifred Moore Auditorium and the Chase Park Plaza Cinema.
Under Executive Director Bree Maniscalco, the festival has new staff presiding over international and U.S films, both feature length and shorts, including several Jewish-interest films with Jewish themes from Israeli or Israeli American filmmakers.
“This year, SLIFF will have films from over 30 countries,” Williams said. “I hope that no matter where you’re from, you’ll be able to find a film that speaks to who you are.”
Three major films in the lineup
Six features and seven short Jewish-interest films come from the U.S., Israel, France and Germany. Three of the features are major studio releases already getting awards buzz.
The other three are documentaries: a look Civil Rights Movement connections between Jews and African Americans; an entertaining and thought provoking exploration by a Jewish filmmaker from St. Louis of the legacies we leave behind; and a study of mental health in the Jewish community by an Israeli American filmmaker. The latter two filmmakers will attend Q&A sessions for their films.
The shorts include documentaries, narratives and animated films on a variety of topics and from a range of countries. In addition to escapist entertainment, the movie lineup features many informative, thought provoking films, and glimpses into other cultures and lives.
A big studio release will open the festival. The comedy/drama “A Real Pain” will be show at the SLIFF Opening Night Party at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, at the Hi-Pointe. Written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg and partly inspired by his family’s history, “A Real Pain” follows two mismatched cousins (Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin) on a trip to Poland to honor their late, beloved grandmother, a Shoah survivor. The film is getting raves from audiences and critics and is on track for upcoming awards.
Adrien Brody is getting Oscar buzz for his lead role in “The Brutalist,” screening at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, at at the Hi-Pointe. It is an epic, four-hour film with intermision that follows a fictional Hungarian-Jewish architect, famous in his home country before World War II, trying to build a new life in America. While coping with the impact of the Shoah on his life and family, he must face the reality of the American Dream.
Another major studio release, “September 5,” is the SLIFF Saturday Centerpiece Film at 7 p.m. Nov. 16 at the Hi-Pointe. It is a pulse-pounding thriller about the ABC Sports team covering the 1972 Munich Olympics that suddenly got thrust into news coverage of the terrorist attacks on Israeli athletes.
Docs focus on legacy, race, health
While the big studio films probably will return to St. Louis theaters for a longer run, this may be your only chance to see other excellent Jewish-themed films, such as documentaries “Forever Endeavor,” “Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round” and “My Missing Screw.”
“Forever Endeavor,” a documentary from directors Mary Anne Rothberg and Jonathan Mann, examines our legacy: what we leave behind, and how and whether we will be remembered. But it does so with a lighthearted approach.
Rothberg, who hails from St. Louis, will be in town to present her film at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17, at 4 p.m. at the Chase Cinema.
“I was over the moon to have ‘Forever Endeavor’ selected by SLIFF to premiere in my hometown,” Rothberg said. “While coping with the death of my parents, Beatrice and Joseph Rothberg, St. Louisans for over 60 years and active in the Jewish community, I wondered what they left behind. This provided motivation for my documentary, an exploration of legacy and remembrance.
“As I get older, I am increasingly curious about what ‘leaving a legacy’ is all about. Is it passing along possessions, money and values to my children? Or is it about leaving a more permanent mark? Very few people, even ones who did amazing things, are remembered long after they are gone.”
The film follows co-director, Mann, an Abraham Lincoln expert and collector of Lincoln memorabilia, as he explores the topic. Starting with Percy Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias,” Mann explores what it takes to get an obit into The New York Times, talks to a sculptor who creates busts of living people he feels should be honored, and more as it takes its intriguing look at being remembered.
Inspired by a poem
“Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round” (1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17, at the Chase) looks at a civil rights protest in 1960, when a group of Black students from Howard University were arrested after sitting on a segregated Maryland amusement park carousel. Their protest was joined by Jewish residents of the neighborhood, many of them union members and many who lost family in the Shoah.
A hopeful and uplifting film, it is filled with present-day interviews with participants as well as archival footage and materials tying that protest to the Civil Rights Movement and tolerance today. The title comes from Langston Hughes’ 1994 poem “Merry-Go-Round” about longing to ride a carousel in the Jim Crow South: “On the bus we’re put in the back — / But there ain’t no back / To a merry-go-round!”
The film’s Emmy-winning director Ilana Tractman will be on hand for a Q&A after the film.
Have a screw loose? “My Missing Screw” is a feature-length documentary focused on the subject of mental health in the Jewish community and the power of art to heal. Recovering after a suicide attempt, a sculptor begins work creating a 10-foot screw. He plans for a worldwide tour with the sculpture in honor of the suffering of his family in the Shoah.
The film, in English and Hebrew, will have its world premiere at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10, at the B&B Creve Coeur. Israeli-American director Nitsan Tal will attend for a Q&A after the film.
Short on length, not substance
Israeli-American director Chen Drachman will be in St. Louis to premiere her short film “But I’m a Shoe,” a mix of animation and live-action, as part of the Narrative Shorts 8 program. The Israeli narrative short “The Source of All Beauty,” about an ultra-Orthodox young woman with a secret, will be shown as part of the Narrative Shorts 1 program.
Short documentaries “13 Driver’s Licenses,” about a German high school project sparked by the discovery of driver’s licenses confiscated in 1938 from Jewish residents of their town, and “The President’s Tailor,” about a Shoah survivor who went on to work in the White House, are both in the Documentary Shorts 15 program (1:10 p.m. Sunday Nov. 10 at the Chase).
“Curls” is a film about an Orthodox boy contemplating a haircut, in the Narrative Shorts 6 program (5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 11 at the Chase).
Two shorts have Israeli directors. “Via Dolorosa” from Jerusalem-born French director Rachel Gutgarts, is an animated film in French and Hebrew tat follows a woman as she wanders the streets of Jerusalem in search of her youth. The film plays in Narrative Shorts 15 (9:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15, at the Hi-Pointe).
Jacob Arenber’s Israeli short “Center Of Life” is a more challenging film, in Hebrew and Arabic, that follows a Jerusalem Arab man applying for an Israeli passport. It will be shown in Documentary Shorts 6: Centering the Middle East (5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15, at the Chase).
The St. Louis International Film Festival takes place Nov. 7-17. Information on films, showtimes and venues, and tickets are available from the Cinema St. Louis at sliff.cinemastlouis.org/2024 or at the Hi-Pointe Theater.
