Posted on Nov 7, 2023
St. Louis International Film Festival to offer more Black American stories
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When the Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival returns to Cinema St Louis on Thursday, festivalgoers will get to see how filmmakers from around the world approach their art.
Festival organizers will play almost 280 films, documentaries and shorts at the festival, which runs through Nov. 19 at the Alamo Drafthouse, Webster University, Washington University, the Contemporary Art Museum and the Hi-Pointe Theatre.
The festival will continue its Race in America: The Black Experience Spotlight, with 16 films that focus on stories documenting the Black experience.
This year’s spotlight was programmed by St. Louis-based filmmaker Emmett Williams. The lineup includes “Black Barbie,” a documentary by Lagueria Davis on the first Black Barbie doll, and “Ellis,” a movie about acclaimed jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis, directed by Sascha Just. The film will be shown at Washington University in tribute to St. Louis Post-Dispatch jazz and theater critic Calvin Wilson, who died in August.
Cinema St. Louis purchased the Hi-Pointe in January. The venue is the organization's new home and will play a variety of award-winning films, Executive Director Bree Maniscalco said.
“We have multiple films that are Oscar entries for many other categories and countries,” Maniscalco said. “We have films that have played at the likes of Telluride, Toronto and Cannes, so they've done the festival circuit and they are picking up prizes left and right, so audience members truly will get to see the best of the best this year.”
Festival organizers will play almost 280 films, documentaries and shorts at the festival, which runs through Nov. 19 at the Alamo Drafthouse, Webster University, Washington University, the Contemporary Art Museum and the Hi-Pointe Theatre.
The festival will continue its Race in America: The Black Experience Spotlight, with 16 films that focus on stories documenting the Black experience.
This year’s spotlight was programmed by St. Louis-based filmmaker Emmett Williams. The lineup includes “Black Barbie,” a documentary by Lagueria Davis on the first Black Barbie doll, and “Ellis,” a movie about acclaimed jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis, directed by Sascha Just. The film will be shown at Washington University in tribute to St. Louis Post-Dispatch jazz and theater critic Calvin Wilson, who died in August.
Cinema St. Louis purchased the Hi-Pointe in January. The venue is the organization's new home and will play a variety of award-winning films, Executive Director Bree Maniscalco said.
“We have multiple films that are Oscar entries for many other categories and countries,” Maniscalco said. “We have films that have played at the likes of Telluride, Toronto and Cannes, so they've done the festival circuit and they are picking up prizes left and right, so audience members truly will get to see the best of the best this year.”
St. Louis International Film Festival to offer more Black American stories
Posted from stlpr.org
Movies
American History
Black History
Jazz Music
Posted 6 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."“It takes time to center the participants' voices through numerous elements that we use in our storytelling,” Cortés said. “But that was very important for us, to give them agency to tell their story.”
The festival runs as the movie industry faces numerous challenges. While box office numbers have improved since the coronavirus pandemic led studios to reconsider releasing films in theaters, ticket sales remain lower than before the pandemic began. The percentage of Americans who strongly prefer watching films through streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video jumped by 8% in 2022.
Maniscalco said that while the industry faces huge challenges ahead, she hopes the festival captures the hunger of fans looking for a communal space to watch films, while also benefiting the filmmakers.
“[Filmmakers] sit in there and they hear the audience reacting together as a group of people and it helps them know, ‘great, this part of my movie is really being picked up on the way that I wanted to,’ or maybe it helps them sort of tweak something before they finalize their film in hopes of getting it picked up by a distributor,” Maniscalco said. “It's a very helpful experience on both ends for the filmmaker and the film attendee.”
..."“It takes time to center the participants' voices through numerous elements that we use in our storytelling,” Cortés said. “But that was very important for us, to give them agency to tell their story.”
The festival runs as the movie industry faces numerous challenges. While box office numbers have improved since the coronavirus pandemic led studios to reconsider releasing films in theaters, ticket sales remain lower than before the pandemic began. The percentage of Americans who strongly prefer watching films through streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video jumped by 8% in 2022.
Maniscalco said that while the industry faces huge challenges ahead, she hopes the festival captures the hunger of fans looking for a communal space to watch films, while also benefiting the filmmakers.
“[Filmmakers] sit in there and they hear the audience reacting together as a group of people and it helps them know, ‘great, this part of my movie is really being picked up on the way that I wanted to,’ or maybe it helps them sort of tweak something before they finalize their film in hopes of getting it picked up by a distributor,” Maniscalco said. “It's a very helpful experience on both ends for the filmmaker and the film attendee.”
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