The third annual edition of QFest will be held March 28-31, 2010, at the Tivoli Theatre. QFest uses the art of contemporary gay cinema to spotlight the diversity and inherent complexities of living an alternative lifestyle in today's society. The event will featured an eclectic slate of contemporary LGBTQ-themed feature films, documentaries and short subjects. Please click (here) for general info and official schedule of films and events for the 2010 edition of QFest.

Click (here) for 2009 QFest festival award winners, schedule, and film synopses.

These recessionary times are tough, but instead of moping, Cinema St. Louis prefers laughing - and we want you to join in.

Our First Annual Movie Marathon - an almost 14-hour feast for cinephiles with insatiable appetites for film - features eight classic American comedies, one from each decade from the 1920s-1990s: Buster Keaton's The General (1927), the Marx Bros. and Leo McCarey's Duck Soup (1933), Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday (1940), Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot (1959), Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964), Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles (1974), Albert Brooks' Lost in America (1985), and the Coen Bros.' The Big Lebowski (1998). The Movie Marathon will begin at noon Saturday, April 3 and continue into the early hours of April 4 at Washington University's Brown Hall Auditorium.

We're asking our supporters to gather pledges in support of their attending the Movie Marathon. A minimum pledge total of $50 gets you access to the full day of screenings; if you'd like to bring a guest, the minimum pledge total is $75.

Of course, we encourage you to go well beyond the minimum in pledges and secure support from as many friends, family members, and colleagues as you can. All proceeds will benefit the work of Cinema St. Louis. The three attendees with the highest dollar totals in pledges will receive prize packages, including passes to Cinema St. Louis events.

For complete information, including a downloadable pledge form, click (here).

Submissions for the 2010 CinemaSpoke Screenwriting Competition and Workshop runs through Feb. 19, 2010. CinemaSpoke is an opportunity for St. Louis-area screenwriters to have their work read aloud in a public forum by professional and amateur actors and to receive feedback from a panel of film-industry experts experienced in producing, screenwriting, filmmaking, development, and criticism.
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Cinema St. Louis continues its special screening series, available only to CSL members at the Producer level ($100) or above. The series offers free sneak previews of the 2010 Global Lens films that will be featured in the 19th annual St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF).

This year, we'll be previewing the 10 Global Lens films in a biweekly series for CSL members at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand Blvd. The free screenings will be held at 7 p.m. Mondays, beginning March 8 and continuing through July 26. Click here for a schedule of the films and info on how to make reservations. Click here for info on membership.

Cinema St. Louis will host its an annual I Love Movies Trivia Night on Friday, June 11, at the Centene Center for Arts and Education, 3547 Olive Street (1/2 block east of Grand Blvd.). All rounds and questions are movie-themed. Tickets will go on sale in March 2010, and the cost is tax-deductible.

The 10th Annual SLFS will be held July 17-22, 2010. This event focuses exclusively on the work of local directors and filmmakers, as well as expatriates with strong local connections who have gone on to use their creative talents in other cities. Submissions will be accepted March 1-May 31, 2010. Please click [here] for more information about the event and a downloadable submission form.

Please click (here) for the official selections of the 2009 SLFS and a list of awards presented by the St. Louis Film Critics Association.

The Second Annual Cinema St. Louis French Film Festival will be held Sept. 17-19, 2010, at Washington University's Brown Hall. The fest celebrates the city's Gallic heritage and France's continuing cinematic vitality with recent French films and classics by French film masters. The French Film Festival is co-presented by Washington University's Program in Film and Media Studies and sponsored by Culturesfrance. Please click (here) for last year's schedule. The 2010 fest lineup will be announced in the summer.

The 19th Annual SLIFF will be held Nov. 11-21, 2010. Submissions will be accepted March 1-June 30, 2010. Please click (here) for submission information.

The 2009 festival featured the St. Louis premieres of more than 250 films from nearly 40 countries. Click here for a list of the official film selections plus juried and audience choice awards of the 2009 SLIFF.

Click here for a PDF of the official program (6 MB download).

During the St. Louis International Film Festival, Cinema St. Louis annually offers free daytime screenings for children and teens from participating St. Louis-area schools. Click here for last year's letter to educators about Cinema for Students. Click here for a full list of last year's Cinema for Students films, synopses and grade-level suggestions.

Cinema St. Louis' The Lens is a multi-contributor blog aimed primarily - but by no means exclusively - at local cinephiles. The Lens has a specifically St. Louis perspective when relevant - and previews Cinema St. Louis events - but because film encompasses the world, the blog offers material on every aspect of movie culture, with no ties to a particular place. Lens contributors - critics, academics, journalists, novelists, poets, essayists and filmmakers - write, at any length and in any form, about all film-related topics, allowing for a wide array of approaches: simple reviews, stray thoughts, essays, reported articles, cartoons, photos, even audio clips and videos. The Lens is co-hosted by the St. Louis Beacon, the metro area's online news source.

Cinema St. Louis annually hosts the Oscar Night® America fundraiser, St. Louis' only Oscar® party officially sanctioned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The 2010 event will be held from 6-10:30 p.m. Sunday, March 7, at the Crowne Plaza Clayton, Plaza Grill and Restaurant, 7750 Carondelet Avenue.
Click here for details and ticket information.