It isn’t about mass quantities of popcorn and or unveiling the latest summer blockbuster. The Webster Film Series — unapologetic for its established role in the St. Louis community — is all about the art.

“The mission is to bring films that wouldn’t play in St. Louis to St. Louis,” said Webster Film Series Director Michael Steinberg (BA, Film Production, 1994). “It’s a wide gamut of content, creating a space for people to appreciate all aspects of film.”

The film series began in 1979 as an offshoot of the student-run Webster Film Society. It was designed to lure, primarily, non-commercial films made outside the Hollywood mainstream. And while many of the films are available on DVD, there’s something about seeing it on the big screen.

“There’s a big difference between seeing a film on DVD and watching it in a full theater,” Steinberg said. “It’s a great value to the community, particularly when these artists come to talk about their work.”

Independent filmmaker Ralph Arlyck recently traveled to Webster University to show his documentary “Following Sean.” The film chronicles Arlyck’s return to San Francisco to determine the fate of a boy raised in the cultural revolution of the 1960s.



Arlyck’s film normally doesn’t play in large movie houses alongside the blockbusters of Hollywood.

“For visiting filmmakers the series provides a great way to have direct contact with an audience,” Arlyck said. “This is always a plus. There’s no substitute for hearing from people immediately after they’ve sat in the dark for an hour and a half and watched the movie with you.

“For me particularly, living in New York and having made a film about San Francisco, it’s also an important reminder that there is a vibrant film audience out there which doesn’t necessarily live on either coast.”

The Webster Film Series prides itself on its vibrant film audience and the learning environment it creates for film students enrolled in the School of Communications.

“We try to integrate what we’re doing with what’s happening in the film department,” said Steinberg, who, along with Film Series Coordinator James Harrison (BA, Film Production, 1994), serves as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Communications.



Michael D. Witman (BA, Film Production, 2005) was once a student in the film department. Today, he’s an independent filmmaker.

One of Witman’s first ventures into filmmaking, “Red Ink,” showed as part of the Webster Film Series in 2005. The film tells the story of a troubled writer who starts to mold his world of fact into the fiction of his book.

“Any publicity and exposure to the public is always beneficial somewhere down the line,” Witman said, “even if its not evident right away. Overall, I am really happy that Webster can do something to bring more variety and culture to the film world and the general viewing public.”

A schedule of upcoming films in the Webster Film Series can be found at http://www.webster.edu/filmseries/current.html.

Tickets to shows playing in the year-round film series, unless otherwise noted, are: $6 for the general public; $5 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools; $4 for Webster faculty and staff; and free for all Webster students.

EXTRA! EXTRA!
The Webster Film Series recently featured “Steel City,” a film written and directed by Brian Jun (BA, Film Production, 2001). Jun is the recipient of the School of Communications’ 2006 Outstanding Alumni Award.

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