16th Annual AT&T St. Louis
International Film Festival
Features
The Sacred Family
(La Sagrada Familia)
Sebastián Campos, Chile, 2005, 99 min.
Spanish with English subtitles
Friday, Nov. 9, 5 p.m., Tivoli Theatre
Tuesday, Nov. 13, 5 p.m., Tivoli Theatre
“Sometimes we’re so asleep we don’t know what we’re up to,” Marco’s mother says, explaining why she must rush to Santiago to see a friend who was hurt in a car accident. Using improvised dialogue and hand-held camerawork, “The Sacred Family” captures the disintegration of the family’s polite appearances at the hands of Marco’s sensual and outspoken girlfriend. Adding to this potent mixture are Marco’s friends — two university students facing exams and a mysterious young woman with a vow of silence, guests for an Easter weekend on the beach that will change all their lives.
SIGNIS Award at 2006 Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema; FIPRESCI Prize and Grand Prix Award at 2006 Toulouse Latin America Film Festival, France; Paoa Award at 2005 Viña del Mar Film Festival, Chile
The Samba Poet
(Poeta da Vila)
Ricardo Van Steen, Brazil, 2006, 99 min.
Portuguese with English subtitles
Wednesday, Nov. 14, 9:30 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Saturday, Nov. 17, 9:45 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
This biopic chronicles the life of Noel Rosa, a well-known Brazilian poet and samba composer whose work forever changes the direction of Brazilian music. Rosa, son of a middle-class family living in the white, middle-class district of Vila Isabel, is raised to study medicine and become a doctor but instead prefers to write poetry, nurture friendships with easy women and black musicians, and make music. His feverishly intense life comes at a price: The poet and philosopher died of tuberculosis at the age of 26. Today, his musical legacy of 259 compositions belongs to the standard repertoire. The film impressively depicts the life stages of the man who revived the samba and shaped it into the music we know today.
Best Soundtrack, Best Art Direction, and Special Jury Award at 2007 Miami Brazilian Film Festival
Sponsored by KDHX's Radio Rio, Wednesdays at 10:00AM
The Savages
Tamara Jenkins, USA, 2007, 113 min.
Thursday, Nov. 15, 9:30 p.m., Tivoli Theatre
This wisely observed and superbly acted film is a bittersweet portrayal of the dynamics between two siblings who are forced together to care for their ailing, elderly father. A touching dramedy with more than a little humor, the film stars Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the brother and sister confronted with caring for their crotchety father, Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco), who signals he’s going over the deep end when he begins writing in feces on the walls of the home he shares with lady friend Doris. When the two 40ish children rush out to tend to the situation, Doris promptly drops dead, leaving the old man in his kids’ hands. In concise, deftly handled scenes, director Tamara Jenkins (“The Slums of Beverly Hills”) conveys a poignant sense of familial responsibility in a busy modern world.
Shelter
Jonah Markowitz, USA, 2007, 97 min.
Friday, Nov. 9, 5 p.m., Tivoli Theatre
Forced to give up his dreams of art school, Zach spends his days working a dead-end job and helping his needy sister care for her son. In his free time, he surfs, draws, and hangs out with his best friend, Gabe, who lives on the wealthy side of town. When Gabe’s older brother, Shaun, returns home, he is drawn to Zach’s selflessness and talent. Zach falls in love with Shaun while struggling to reconcile his own desires with the needs of his family.
Special Award to a First-time Director at 2007 Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Slither
James Gunn, USA, 2006, 95 min.
Friday, Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m., Webster University
In this deft comical blend of the B-movie classic “The Blob” and George Romero’s zombie films, a meteorite lands in a small town with the egg of a voracious alien worm attached. Wealthy local Grant (Michael Rooker) finds it and is infected by a parasite worm, transforming him into a monster with an insatiable hunger for raw meat. While his hostage body mutates, he builds a nest of slugs in his cellar. Wife Starla (Elizabeth Banks) and policeman Bill (Nathan Fillion) will try to stop him and the plague of slithery worms and the starving zombies they create. The stellar cast also includes Gregg Henry.
Director Gunn, this year’s Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award honoree, will attend.
Filmmaker’s Showcase Award and Best Make-Up at 2007 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films; Highest Body Count at 2006 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards
Sponsored by Pirate Pictures
Son of Rambow
Garth Jennings, UK, 2007, 95 min.
Saturday, Nov. 10, 3 p.m., Saint Louis Art Museum
Set during a long English summer in the early ‘80s, “Son of Rambow” is a comedy about friendship, faith, and the tough business of growing up. The fatherless Brethren family regard themselves as God’s “chosen ones,” and their strict moral code means that eldest son Will has never been allowed to mix with the other “worldlies,” listen to music or watch TV. Will, however, is caught up in the extraordinary world of Lee Carter, the school terror and maker of bizarre home movies. Carter exposes Will to a pirate copy of “Rambo: First Blood,” and from that moment Will is easily convinced to be the stuntman in Carter’s diabolical home movie. The process of making their film is a glorious roller coaster that eventually leads to true friendship.
Tuya’s Marriage
(Tuya de hun shi)
Wang Quanan, China, 2006, 86 min.
Mandarin with English subtitles
Saturday, Nov. 17, 5:30 p.m., Webster University
Tuya is the persevering wife of Bater, a herdsman who lost his legs exploring for water in the Neimenggu (Inner Mongolia) grassland that is fast vanishing as a result of desertification. She takes up the sole responsibility to make a living for the family but develops a dislocated lumbar from her hard labor and risks paralysis herself. Faced with harsh reality, the couple decides to divorce so that Tuya can seek a better life. Imposing her own conditions of a remarriage - her new husband must take care of Bater, their children, and their poor herding land - the strong-minded but gentle Tuya embarks on an arduous search for a new husband.
Golden Bear and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 2007 Berlin Film Festival
Sponsored by East Asian Studies Program & International and Area Studies at Washington University
Two Players From the Bench
(Dva igraca s klupe)
Dejan Sorak, Croatia, 2005, 112 min.
Croatian with English subtitles
Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2:30 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Friday, Nov. 16, 4:30 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Ante and Dusko, a Croat and a Serb, are two former world-class athletes who fought on opposite sides in the war. Today, they live normal lives, one in a remote and craggy mountainous region, the other in a Bosnian city. There is little chance of them ever meeting again. Meanwhile, the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague has indicted Col. Skoko, a hero to some, a criminal to the others. The two main witnesses for his defense have disappeared, and Skoko’s sponsor from the intelligence circles wants to find two men resembling the witnesses to impersonate them before the Hague investigators. The two men he finds are none other than Ante and Dusko.
Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Cinematography at 2005 Pula Film Festival, Croatia
Waiter
(Ober)
Alex van Warmerdam, Netherlands, 2006, 97 min.
Dutch with English subtitles
Sunday, Nov. 11, 2 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Monday, Nov. 12, 5 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
In this playfully postmodern tale, the fictional creation Edgar confronts Herman, the screenwriter who has been controlling his destiny. In Herman’s script, 50-year-old waiter Edgar is treated like a doormat by everyone in his life, and he’s had enough of his miserable existence: the crummy job at a rundown restaurant, the wife who is chronically ill, the anti-social neighbors, the extramarital affair with a highly demanding mistress. Desperate to extricate himself from his unhappy relationships, Edgar informs the writer that he is simply worn out and requests that his life be propelled in a more agreeable direction.
Best Screenplay and Best Production Design at 2006 Nederlands Film Festival
The Walker
Paul Schrader, USA, 2007, 108 min.
Friday, Nov. 16, 7 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Saturday, Nov. 17, 9:30 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
Writer/director Paul Schrader (“Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “Affliction,” “Auto Focus”) offers a contemporary drama set in Washington, D.C. that revisits and expands on some of the themes he explored in “American Gigolo.” “The Walker” centers around Carter Page (Woody Harrelson), a well-heeled and popular socialite who serves as confidant, companion, and card partner to some of the capitol’s leading ladies. These pampered women (including Lauren Bacall and Lily Tomlin) are married to the most powerful men in America, and when their husbands are too busy running the country to attend to their wives, they turn to their “gay best friend,” Carter, for warmth, wit, and wisdom. Carter’s loyalty is tested when his dearest friend (Kristin Scott Thomas) finds herself on the brink of a scandal that could destroy her reputation and her husband’s career. Offering to cover for her, Carter suppresses incriminating evidence, only to find himself the chief suspect in a criminal investigation.
Sponsored by Jon Mendelson Realtors
When a Man Falls in the Forest
Ryan Eslinger, USA, 2007, 90 min.
Friday, Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m., Saint Louis Art Museum
This elliptical, quietly powerful drama follows four unlikely heroes – three men and one woman – as they struggle to make sense of their lives. Bill (Dylan Baker) has never been able to interact normally with others, living in self-imposed exile in a secret world where his dreams offer the only escape. Travis (Pruitt Taylor Vince) is able to reach out to others but bears the guilt for a terrible tragedy. Karen (Sharon Stone), frustrated with her marriage, finds salvation in forbidden thrills, finding empowerment in breaking taboos. Linking them all is Gary (Timothy Hutton), who’s desperate to make a connection, to bridge the gulfs between them. In one defining moment, he makes a startling and irreversible decision that transforms all their lives.
Director Eslinger, a St. Louis native, will attend.
A Year in My Life
(Le Temps des porte-plumes)
Daniel Duval, France, 2006, 94 min.
French with English subtitles
Sunday, Nov. 11, 5 p.m., Saint Louis Art Museum
Saturday, Nov. 17, 12:15 p.m., Plaza Frontenac
In this charming and moving autobiographical story set in 1950s France, a young boy named Pippo is taken in by a quiet, childless couple in the French countryside after spending time in the care of social services. Though loving and kind, the couple demands hard work and discipline from the boy, who is having trouble adjusting to his new environment. Slowly and surely, but definitely on his own terms, Pippo makes peace and finds his place in the world.
Sponsored by Alliance Francaise of St. Louis
Search by:
