16th Annual AT&T St. Louis
International Film Festival
Features
Drowning by Numbers
Peter Greenaway, UK/Netherlands, 1988, 118 min.
Sunday, Nov. 18, 2:30 p.m., Saint Louis Art Museum
Free
SLIFF honors one of the world’s most adventuresome directors with a tribute to Peter Greenaway that features a rare screening of one of his best films: “Drowning by Numbers.” Tired of his philandering ways, the mother (Joan Plowright) of two daughters (Juliet Stevenson and Jolie Richardson) drowns her husband. With the help of the amorous local coroner, the murder is covered up. Her daughters are having similar problems with their own marital relationships and elect to follow their mother’s gruesome example. The coroner becomes reluctantly duplicitous in their schemes. As the film unfolds, visual and spoken numbers appear in the scenes, counting from 1 to 100, in typically fascinating Peter Greenaway fashion: playfully comic, richly allusive, and intellectually challenging.
Also featured are the accompanying essay film "Fear of Drowning," a career-spanning clip reel of Greenaway's work and a discussion led by RD Zurick.
Best Artistic Contribution at 1988 Cannes Film Festival; Best Director at 1991 Seattle Film Festival
Sponsored by Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts
Dry Season
(Daratt)
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Chad, 2006, 96 min.
Arabic and French with English subtitles
Tuesday, Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m., Webster University
When the government grants amnesty to all past war criminals, 16-year-old Atim is given a revolver by his grandfather so that he may kill the man who killed his father. Atim leaves his village seeking this man who he does not know and quickly locates him. The former war criminal Nassara is now married and settled down as the owner of a small bakery. With the firm intention of killing him, Atim gets closer to Nassara under the guise of looking for work and is hired as an apprentice baker. Intrigued by the young man’s attitude toward him, Nassara takes him under his wing and teaches him the secrets of making bread. A strange relationship evolves between the two, and despite his inherent disgust, Atim seems to recognize in Nassara the father figure he has always needed.
EIUC Award, Grand Special Jury Prize, Human Rights Film Network Award (Special Mention), and SIGNIS Award (Honorable Mention) at 2006 Venice Film Festival; Best Cinematography and European Union Award at 2007 Ouagadougou Panafrican Film and Television Festival
Emma’s Bliss
(Emmas Glück)
Sven Taddicken, Germany, 2006, 99 min.
German with English subtitles
Friday, Nov. 16, 7:15 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Saturday, Nov. 17, 5 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
In this stellar adaptation of the hugely popular Claudia Schreiber novel, lonely and stoic Emma lives as a pig breeder at the shabby and hopelessly indebted farm of her ancestors. She slaughters the pigs in her own true way: She treats them lovingly till the last day, then executes them with a tender but lethal cut so that the dying animals bleed to death calmly and willingly in her arms. Max, recently diagnosed with a fatal pancreatic disease, impulsively steals a bag of money and an expensive car in order to leave Germany with the hope of living out his life on a beach in Mexico. Instead, he accidentally crashes his stolen car into Emma’s farm. She proves a wise seductress whose unique perspective on life and death helps Max achieve the ultimate liberation.
Best Screenplay and Audience Award for Best Feature at 2006 Hamptons International Film Festival; Best Actor at 2007 Bavarian Film Awards
Enough!
(Barakat!)
Djamila Sahraoui, Algeria, 2006, 94 min.
French and Arabic with English subtitles
Saturday, Nov. 10, 12:30 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Thursday, Nov. 15, 12:30 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Set in war-torn Algeria in the 1990s, “Enough!” follows two women on the dangerous search for the younger woman’s husband, a journalist whose writings resulted in his disappearance. Both women represent anachronisms in Islamist Algeria: The younger woman is a doctor, the older a nurse with vivid memories of Algeria’s fight for independence. Ignoring curfews and the constant threat of ambush by armed militias, the two women challenge the men they encounter to accept them and help them with their search. Their journey leads them across the picturesque landscapes of Algeria to a deeper understanding of how their lives were shaped by their country’s history.
Oumarou Ganda Award for the Best First Feature, Best Music, Best Original Score, and Best Screenplay at 2007 Ouagadougou Panafrican Film and Television Festival
Fine Dead Girls
(Fine Mrtve Djevojke)
Dalibor Matanic, Croatia, 2002, 77 min.
Croatian with English subtitles
Saturday, Nov. 17, 8:30 p.m., COCA
Sunday, Nov. 18, 6 p.m., COCA
A report of a kidnapped child triggers an investigation that uncovers nightmarish conditions in a seedy apartment building in Zagreb: None of the residents are as they seem, and when they learn the truth about each other, the pervasive climate of mistrust in the building explodes into violence. The hostility and misery of the characters’ lives project vivid echoes of Croatia’s recent past, as the country slowly emerges from years of ethnic violence during the Balkans war.
Audience Award for Best Film and Best Supporting Actress at 2002 Pula Film Festival, Croatia
48 Angels
Marion Comer, Ireland, 2006, 97 min.
Wednesday, Nov. 14, 12:30 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Thursday, Nov. 15, 5 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Seamus is a 9-year-old boy who has been diagnosed with a serious
illness. In search of a miracle, he sets off to find God before God comes for him. Inspired by the life story of St. Columcille, Seamus sets out in a small boat without oars or sail. On his quest, he encounters a troubled young man and an ex-prisoner who served a long jail sentence because of his beliefs. Despite initial conflict, the trio decides to stay together and embark on a journey that results in the spiritual healing of their hearts and minds.
Fresh Air
(Friss levegö)
Ágnes Kocsis, Hungary, 2006, 109 min.
Hungarian with English subtitles
Thursday, Nov. 15, 9:30 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Friday, Nov. 16, 2:30 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Viola works as the attendant in a bustling public restroom and lives quietly with her teenage daughter, Angela, in a small but tidy flat. Though they seldom talk to one another, both exhibit a variety of obsessive domestic behavioral patterns. Viola desperately wants to find a new man, while Angela has grand ambitions to become a fashion designer and relentlessly plots to escape her dull, humdrum life. Both women ultimately yearn to find something different: another life filled with fresh air.
Best Film at 2006 Brussels European Film Festival
Getting Home
(Luo ye gui gen)
Yang Zhang, China/Hong Kong, 2007, 97 min.
Mandarin with English subtitles
Friday, Nov. 9, 7 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Sunday, Nov. 11, 4:30 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Sunday, Nov. 18, 8:30 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Relying on the kindness of strangers takes on a whole new meaning in this unique take on the “buddy” and “road” film genres. Co-workers Zhao and Liu, old friends both in their 50s, are drinking heavily one day when Liu dies unexpectedly. In order to keep a drunken promise made to his friend, Zhao decides bring Liu’s body home to his family via a daunting journey that requires the pair to travel over a thousand miles across Western China. With next to no money and a slowly rotting corpse on his back, Zhao’s tragicomic odyssey brings him face-to-face with all manners and social classes of Chinese people in a world of rapidly changing values and mores.
Ecumenical Jury Prize at 2007 Berlin Film Festival; Grand Prize at 2007 Trondheilm Film Festival; Audience Award at 2007 Barcelona Asian Film Festival 2007; Golden Alexander Award (Best Film) at 2007 Thessaloniki Film Festival
Sponsored by East Asian Studies Program & International and Area Studies at Washington University
Ghost Image
Jack Snyder, USA, 2007, 100 min.
Saturday, Nov. 10, 9:45 p.m., Tivoli Theatre
This ambitious, St. Louis-shot psychological thriller features a cast that includes Elisabeth Rohm (“Law & Order”), Stacey Dash (“Clueless”), and Roma Maffia (“Nip/Tuck,” “Profiler”). When a young video editor (Rohm) loses her boyfriend in a car crash, she finds solace in watching video of him taken the night before he died. When he starts to communicate with her through that video, however, she must decide whether he’s speaking from beyond or she’s slipping into madness.
Director Snyder will attend.
Sponsored by Kim and Sharon Tucci
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