Directors, stars and the best in films sparkle at film fest

Not only do studios start trotting out their best films of the year in anticipation of year-end awards, but the annual St. Louis International Film Festival takes place.

SLIFF offers ten days of outstanding films from nations across the globe, film festival favorites, sneak previews of major releases, amazing award-winning documentaries and rarely seen short films, including some that will be nominated for the Oscars.

For many of these great films, this will be the only St. Louis showing. There are more than 200 films, with 74 narrative features, 25 documentaries and 120 shorts. There are films for every taste and interest.

All that plus the festival atmosphere, directors and stars who come to speak about their latest film, seminars about filmmaking, parties and awards, and a chance to rub shoulders with other St. Louisans who love film. It is our little slice of Sundance.

The 2007 St. Louis Annual Film Festival began Nov. 8 and will conclude on Nov. 18 with a closing night party and announcement of awards.

The festival takes place at several venues this year, with the heart of the festival at the Tivoli Theater.

For information on all films and events, go to the sponsoring organization Cinema St. Louis' Web site at http://www.cinemastlouis.org, or pick up a program at any of the festival venues.

There are too many wonderful films to describe them all, but here is a sampling of a few film highlights from the festival.

Documentaries:

"Taxi to the Dark Side" (Saturday, Nov. 17, 8:15 p.m., Steinberg Auditorium at Washington University) - This is the must-see documentary, arguably even the best film in the festival.

Director/producer/writer Alex Gibney also directed the Oscar-nominated "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," and had producer or writer credits on "Who Killed The Electric Car," "No End In Sight" and "The Trials of Henry Kissinger."

"Taxi To The Dark Side" focuses on a taxi driver in Afghanistan in 2002 as part of an in-depth look at the issue of torture and U.S. practices and policy. The film premiered at the Tribeca film festival this year. Gibney, who will attend, will receive the Contemporary Cinema Award in Documentary at the festival.

"The Paper" (Thursday, Nov. 15, 7:30 p.m., Webster University) - Aaron Matthews directs this look inside modern journalism, using a student paper at Penn State as an example. A fascinating look a the challenges newspapers face with falling circulation, challenges to investigative reporting in wading through public relations spin and official obstruction, and dealing with criticism of coverage from all sides.

Director Mathews is a SLIFF alum and offers a insightful and engrossing exploration of all sides of the topic.

A panel discussion with former St. Louis Post-Dispatch editor Richard Weiss and advisors from some local college papers including Avis Meyer (St. Louis University), Tom Pettit (Lindenwood) and Lance Speere (SIUE) will follow the screening.

"Strange Culture" (Saturday, Nov. 17, 6 p.m., Steinberg Auditorium at Washington University) - If the erosion of civil liberties in this country since the Patriot Act worries you, this real-life nightmare will not reassure you.

Using a hybrid documentary and dramatization approach, director Lynn Hershman Leeson explores the case of internationally acclaimed artist Steve Kurtz in this critical and festival favorite film. Kurtz, who was working on a conceptual art piece on genetically modified foods, was arrested and accused of bioterrorism in 2004 after a legal microorganism is found in his house.

During an investigation into the sudden death of his wife Hope, who died in her sleep of heart failure, local police thought Kurtz's art looked suspicious and called the FBI, who impounded his books, computer and even his wife's body.

Actors Thomas Jay Ryan and Tilda Swinton play Steve and Hope Kurtz in the film. Despite having to cope with restrictions imposed by a coming trial, director Leeson illuminates the risks to personal liberties and a free society faced by both ordinary citizens and artists now. Avant-garde musicians The Residents provide the score. Director Hershman Leeson will attend and receive the Women in Film Award.

Other noteworthy documentaries include director Brett Morgen's ("The Kid Stays in the Picture") Sundance Film Festival opener "Chicago 10" that uses a combination of archival footage and dramatic recreation to recount the events of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, with voices of actors Liev Schreiber, Nick Nolte, Roy Scheider and Mark Ruffalo, and "Call of the Wild," a documentary about Chris McCandless, the subject of Sean Penn's narrative film "Into The Wild."

Major Releases:

"Juno" (Wednesday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m., Tivoli Theatre) - Director Jason Reitman, who did "Thank You For Smoking," offers a quirky comedy about an unwed pregnant teen that was the hit of both the Telluride and Toronto film festivals.

Ellen Page stars as Juno who gets pregnant by her clueless friend Paulie (Michael Cera) and decides to have the baby. "Juno" will open here shortly and with sharply witty dialog, strong acting and an honest, smart script, it is likely to be a big hit this season.

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Sunday, Nov. 18, 6 p.m., Saint Louis Art Museum) - Acclaimed filmmaker Julian Schnabel directs this French film based on the real-life story of Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), the successful editor of French fashion magazine Elle, who suffers a stroke that leaves him almost completely paralyzed.

Creative cinematography, original direction and outstanding acting make this an inspiring, must-see film. It won Best Director and Technical Grand Prize for Cinematography at 2007 Cannes Film Festival. Whether this will return for a longer run is unclear.

"Persepolis" (Saturday, Nov. 17, 7 p.m., Plaza Frontenac) - A French animated adaptation of the acclaimed graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, about an Iranian girl's experiences coming of age during Iran's Islamic revolution.

Visually striking black and white animation recreates the graphic novel. The film has already won a number of awards and is France's entry for the Oscar. This outstanding film is not yet set for a longer run here.

Other major releases include "The Savages," directed by Tamara Jenkins, and "The Walker," directed by Paul Schrader.

Classic Cinema

"Iron Horse" (Friday, November 16, 7 p.m., St. Louis Art Museum) - This is director John Ford's silent classic Western with live musical accompaniment by St. Louis musical legend Stan Kann. Ford was one of the greatest American directors, who virtually created the Western genre and made his star, John Wayne, a screen icon.

This is a rare chance to see one of the greatest American films on a big screen, with live music, as silent films were meant to be seen and nobody does silent movie music like Stan Kann, who captures every nuance and sets the right pace. If you have never seen a silent film, this is the best way to be introduced to this classic style of film.

Animation:

There are several excellent choices for animation fans in this year's festival. "Aardman Animations" is a retrospective of short animated films by the folks who brought us Wallace and Gromit, including some shorts with those beloved characters. "Neal Gabler on Walt Disney" features the film historian and author Neal Gabler offering a series of Walt Disney short films, and discussing the studio that set the standards for animation in many ways.

There are also three animated short programs, Tuesday, Nov. 13 to Thursday, Nov. 15, after 9 p.m. at the Tivoli, where you can sample these short gems, some comic and some dramatic.

International and festival circuit feature favorites:

"Beauty in Trouble" (Friday, Nov. 16, 4:45 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 18, 3:45 p.m., Plaza Frontenac) - This prize-winning favorite of the Denver film fest is from the Czech Republic and wowed the jury with its complex characters and refusal to simplify the tough choices people face in difficult times. A young woman faces tough choices between her children's future and her own heart in a tale set against the background of recent floods in Prague.

"The Band's Visit" (Sunday, Nov. 18, 6:15 p.m., Plaza Frontenac) - Israel originally submitted this film as its official entry for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, but it was disqualified because too much of the film is in English. English or not, this dark comedy, about a brass band of Egyptian musicians who travel to Israel to play for the opening of an Arab arts center but end up lost, has already racked up a pile of festival awards and nominations, including from Cannes and the Israeli Film Academy.

Other recommended films include "American Fork" (U.S.), "Big Dreams Little Tokyo" (U.S.), "Children of Glory" (Hungary), "The Collector" (Poland), "Dry Season" (Chad), "Emma's Bliss" (Germany), "Getting Home" (China), "Kilometre Zero" (Iraqi Kurdistan) and "Tuya's Marriage" (China).

More shorts:

The festival is one of the few places you can see these little filmmaking gems. Other shorts programs to run this week are the second run of the Global Lens shorts, documentary shorts and two programs of local filmmaker shorts.

In the local shorts, highlights are the lyrical "Loneliest Place On Earth," clever "Bodega" and "The Agonist" and the weirdly funny "Fleshy Loves Kittens."

These are not the only films to savor at the St. Louis International Film festival, just a few viewers should not miss and extra special suggestions. Check out the whole program, make your picks and enjoy the best film season in St. Louis.

For more information, log onto http://www.cinemastlouis.org.