The 22nd Annual St. Louis International Film Festival begins November 14th. More than 300 films will be screened over a period of ten days.
“Every year, of course, we scour the globe. This year we even have a film that deals with Antarctica. So we’re everywhere, literally, this year I think. Every continent is touched. We have a mix of international films, that’s built into our title. But we also do have a lot of American independent, and we have a really large selection of documentaries,” said Cliff Froehlich, executive director of Cinema St. Louis, which organizes the festival.
Several awards will be presented to filmmakers during the festival, including a lifetime achievement award to Oliver Stone, perhaps best known for the 1991 movie on the assassination of John. F. Kennedy, JFK.
Filmmaker A. J. Schnack will receive the Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award. He is the director of two films included in the festival, Caucus and We Always Lie to Strangers, which will open the festival.
We Always Lie to Strangers is an exploration of the Branson entertainment industry. Schnack worked on the film for five years with his co-director David Wilson and producer Nathan Truesdell.
“We were really wanting to capture what it is about that particular place…what is it like as a performer to live and work there, particularly if your music interests or your political interests are different than people’s perceptions of what Branson is,” said Schnack.
His other film, Caucus, follows the political candidates of the 2012 primaries during the Republican Caucus in Iowa. Despite the focus on one political party, the documentary has been getting positive reviews from both liberal and conservative audiences.
We Always Lie to Strangers screens on November 14th at 7:30 p.m. at the Tivoli to open the festival, and again on November 19th at 7:00 p.m. at the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville. Schnack receives the Guggenheim Award at the Tivoli screening which also includes music performed by Gail Lennon, Bill Lennon and Pope Firman.
Caucus will screen on November 15th at 6:45 p.m. at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema and November 17th at 4:30 p.m. at the Wildey Theatre.
Related Event
Cinema St. Louis Presents the 22nd Annual St. Louis International Film Festival
November 14 - 24, 2013; For more information, call 314-289-4150 or visit the Cinema St. Louis website.
Cityscape is produced by Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer, hosted by Steve Potter and funded in part by the the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis, the Regional Arts Commission and the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.
