Death Race 2000
Wednesday, November 4, 8 pm
(Paul Bartel, 1975, USA, 84 min.)

In the year 2000, hit and run has become the national sport. It's a no-holds barred cross- country race, in which the aim is to kill off not only your opponents, but as many pedestrians as possible. Frankenstein (the late David Carradine) takes on Machine Gun Joe Viterbo (Sylvester Stallone) in this crowning jewel of the Roger Corman oeuvre.

Presented in the lively atmosphere of Schlafly Bottleworks, 7260 Southwest Avenue, Maplewood Mo. There is ample parking and great beer on tap!
Special Admission $4.00

The Living Matrix–The New Science of Healing
Saturday, November 7, 7:30 pm
(Greg Becker, 2009, USA, 83 min.)
Mixing new science, recovery stories, and 3D motion graphics to take the provocative discussion of quantum physics, energy fields, and consciousness and apply it to health and healing Living Matrix brings together academic and independent researchers, practitioners, and science journalists whose work reveals scientific evidence that energy and information fields, not genetics, control health and wellbeing. A fascinating look at the emerging alternative healthcare field of the film features 16 researchers and scientific visionaries including: Lynne McTaggart, Rupert Sheldrake, Eric Pearl, Peter Fraser, Marilyn Schlitz and James Oschman.

The Promise (Das Versprechen
Sunday, November 8, 7:30 pm
(Margarethe von Trotta, 1985, Germany/France/Switzerland, 115 min.)

East Berlin, 1961, shortly after the erection of the Wall, Konrad, Sophie and three of their friends plan a daring escape to Western Germany. The attempt is successful, except for Konrad, who remains behind. From then on, and for the next 28 years, Konrad and Sophie will attempt to meet again, in spite of the Iron Curtain. But in a country where the political police, the Stasi, monitors the moves of all suspicious people, preserving one's privacy, ideals and self-respect becomes an exhausting fight, even as the Eastern block begins its long process of disintegration. In German with English subtitles.

Screened in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The 18th Annual Whitaker St Louis International Film Festival
November 12-22

Beeswax
Friday, November 13, 7 pm
(Andrew Bujalski, 2009, USA 100 min.)

Beeswax revolves around the personal and professional entanglements of twin sisters Jeannie and Lauren, played by extraordinary newcomers Tilly and Maggie Harris from Austin, Texas. Jeannie co-owns a vintage clothing store with Amanda, a semi-estranged friend she fears is trying to end their partnership. Lauren leads a looser, less tethered existence and is contemplating getting out of the country altogether. When Jeannie receives an e-mail from Amanda threatening a lawsuit, she calls her law-student ex-boyfriend for help. Eager for distraction from his own problems, he eagerly begins helping the sisters with theirs. Imbued with an innate charm, Beeswax is a story about family, friends and lovers and those awkward moments that bring them all together.

With writer-director Bujalski.

St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase Shorts 1 - 112 min.
Friday, November 13, 9:30 pm

The program features local shorts and works selected from the 2009 St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase. Including films by Webster Alums Anthony Sanchez, Ryan Doris, & Zlatko Cosic,

The Gigantic World of Epics
Saturday, November 14, 1 pm
(Laurent Bouzereau, 2009, USA, 58 min.) The film surveys grandly scaled cinema from D.W. Griffith to the present, placing particular emphasis on the lavishly ambitious work of Cecil B. DeMille (The Ten Commandments, Samson and Delilah), producer Samuel Bronston (King of Kings, El Cid) and David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago). The film also explores such genre standard-bearers as Ben-Hur, Gone with the Wind and Spartacus, deftly mixing eye-popping clips from the films and interviews with contemporary filmmakers, critics and film historians.

Once Upon a Time in the West
Saturday, November 14, 2 pm
(Sergio Leone, 1968, USA, 175 min.)

This gloriously restored Western – screened from a new 35mm print – ranks as legendary director Sergio Leone’s undisputed masterpiece. When Mrs. McBain (Claudia Cardinale) moves from New Orleans to frontier Utah, she finds husband and family slaughtered. Prime suspect Cheyenne (Jason Robards) befriends her and, with the mysterious Harmonica (Charles Bronson), pursues the real killer (a wonderfully malevolent Henry Fonda). The film features gorgeous widescreen cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli, a haunting score by Ennio Morricone, and a screenplay co-written by Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento. The Chicago Reader’s Dave Kehr notes that Leone “expands his baroque, cartoonish style into genuine grandeur, weaving dozens of thematic variations and narrative arabesques around a classical western foundation myth.... Moments of intense realism flow into passages of operatic extravagance; lowbrow burlesque exists side by side with the expression of the most refined shades of feeling.”

Forbidden Lie$
Saturday, November 14, 5:30 pm
(Anna Broinowski, 2007, Australia, 104 min.)

Norma Khouri won fame and fortune with her putatively nonfiction “Forbidden Love,” about a shocking honor killing in Jordan. The book was a runaway bestseller, and Khouri was the toast of the literary world until July 2004, when Sydney Morning Herald journalist Malcolm Knox exposed her book as a work of fiction. Visiting the literary salons of London, the mosque-lined vistas of Jordan, the beachside suburbs of Queensland and the seamy Chicago backstreets of Norma’s dubious past, Forbidden Lie$ pits Norma’s tale against the stories of those who believe she duped them: the publishers, the FBI, her next-door neighbor, her husband and, most provocatively, the filmmaker.

In English and Arabic with English subtitles

The Power of the Powerless
Saturday, November 14, 8 pm
(Cory Taylor, 2009, USA, 78 min.)

Narrated by Academy Award® winner Jeremy Irons, The Power of the Powerless explores Czechoslovakia’s complex history of struggle against controlling totalitarian regimes – from the iron-fisted Stalinist government, through the vibrant and politically active Prague Spring of the 1960s, and into the hard-line backlash of the 1970s. At the heart of the film is the student-led Velvet Revolution of the late 1980s, in which Czech youth, seeing the new era of Gorbachev’s Perestroika and Glasnost, took to the streets to protest their repressive regime and, within weeks, had grown to crowds of a half-million in the streets.

In Czech & English with English subtitles.

How I Got Lost
Sunday, November 15, 6 pm
(Joe Leonard, 2009, USA, 87 min.)

Unsatisfied with their professional and romantic lives, best friends Andrew and Jake hit the road from New York City to Philadelphia in St. Louis native Joe Leonard’s How I Got Lost, an expansion of his 2005 short. Partially filmed in Labadie and Kirkwood, Mo., the film uses the 9/11 terrorist attack and the Northeast blackout of 2003 as bookends to explore a generation’s aspirations and sense of loneliness. How I Got Lost boasts uniformly rich performances from Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married), Aaron Stanford (X-Men), Nicole Vicius (Last Days) and newcomer Jacob Fishel.

With writer-director Leonard.

St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase Shorts 2 - 101 min.
Sunday, November 15, 8:30 pm
The program features local shorts and works selected from the 2009 St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase.

CinemaSpoke Reading: Broken Sinclair
Tuesday, November 17, 7 pm

Free SLIFF presents a reading of Beth Ashby’s Broken Sinclair, the 2009 winner of CinemaSpoke, Cinema St. Louis’ annual screenplay competition. The screenplay chronicles the seriocomic travails of Broken Sinclair, who finds himself at something of a disadvantage when it comes to being normal – he was born empty.

Mine
Wednesday, November 18, 7:30 pm
(Geralyn Pezanoski, 2009, USA, 80 min.)

Mine tells the story of ordinary citizens, many of them poor and of color, tirelessly searching for their beloved pets after Katrina and fighting frustrating custody battles that continue more than three years later. A story of the essential bond between humans and animals, Mine also serves as both a compelling meditation on race and class in contemporary America and a testament to the power of compassion and volunteerism. A gripping and poignant picture of Katrina victims who loved, lost and sometimes found their pets.

With director Pezanoski.
Followed by a panel on the issues raised by the film.

Soldiers of Peace
Thursday, November 19, 7:30 pm
(Timothy Wise, 2009, Australia, 85 min.)

War is often treated as a necessary evil, but the inspirational Soldiers of Peace posits that violence is not necessarily the natural state for human beings. Suggesting that people are capable of elevating themselves above conflict, the film devotes revealing attention to ingenious solutions to many international and ethnic tensions. Soldiers of Peace examines such efforts as a Muslim mosque and a Christian church in Nigeria that give joint teachings to emphasize the religions’ similarities; a the former IRA soldier who befriends the daughter of one of his bombing victims in England; a Kenyan soccer game that has brought together two sides of an old ethnic conflict; and a Columbian troupe of dancers formerly involved in the military and gangs who perform to raise awareness of their new peaceful path.

Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love
Friday, November 20, 7 pm
(Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, 2008, Senegal, 100 min.)
Far more than a concert film, I Bring What I Love immerses the audience in the world of Africa’s most famous musician, Youssou N’Dour, concentrating on a tumultuous period in which he creates his most personal and controversial work. Intending to celebrate Islam through the album “Egypt,” N’Dour is instead labeled as blasphemous for merging the sacred and secular. Although I Bring What I Love provides intimate glimpses of N’Dour’s family life in Dakar, Senegal, it also features abundant music, as he travels the world with his elaborate “Egypt” concert tour.

In French, Wolof, English & Arabic with English subtitles.

RiseUp
Friday, November 20, 9 pm
(Luciano Blotta, 2009, USA, 88 min.)

RiseUp takes viewers on a journey into the heart of Jamaica, the birthplace of reggae. In a society where talent abounds and opportunity is scarce, three distinct and courageous artists attempt to rise up from underground obscurity. With music and appearances by legends Lee “Scratch” Perry, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare and a slew of new and soon-to-be stars, “RiseUp” follows reggae artists in the dangerous streets, back alleys and crowded dancehalls of Kingston and the countryside. Although the film surveys the underground scene, it focuses on three emerging musicians: Turbulence, whose Notorious video launches him to prominence; Ice, a faux-ghetto rich kid with real musical chops; and Kemoy, a beautiful country girl with an equally gorgeous voice.

Filmmakers Workshop with Kristian Fraga
Saturday, November 21, noon

Acclaimed director Kristian Fraga will present a free afternoon workshop on filmmaking. His new film, Severe Clear (which screens as part of SLIFF at The Tivoli November 21 at 9 pm) has received rave reviews on the festival circuit. Through discussion and presentation of clips Fraga will explore all aspects of documentary making, including distribution and navigating the festival circuit.

The workshop will be held in Room 123 of the Sverdrup Business & Technology Complex, 8300 Big Bend, Blvd. Admission is FREE. Space is limited for the workshop. RSVP is required at http://www.kdhx.org/mediaarts This event is co-sponsored by The Webster Film Series, KDHX, The Missouri Arts Council and Cinema St Louis.

Severe Clear
Saturday, November 21, 3 pm
(Kristian Fraga, 2009, USA, 93 min.)

Shot by Marine First Lieutenant Mike Scotti on his Mini-DV camera and told through his own journal entries, Severe Clear is a gripping nonfiction companion to The Hurt Locker, providing an immersive first-person account of life on Operation Iraqi Freedom’s frontlines. By breaking down the barrier between audience and soldier, the film viscerally communicates the fear, moral complexity and sheer adrenaline rush of the battlefield. The story begins with Scotti on a 40-day voyage across the Arabian Sea, continues in Kuwait as the Marines await the beginning of the Iraq invasion, and reaches a terrifying climax as they push into Baghdad and are faced with escalating resistance and the grim, horrific realities of war.

With director Fraga.

Shown with the documentary short Keep the Home Fires Burning (Ryan O’Toole, U.S., 2008, 8 min.), which explores duty and loss through the home movies of a military family.

The Brothers Warner
Saturday, November 21, 6 pm
(Cass Warner, 2008, USA, 90 min.)

An intimate portrait of the four film pioneers who founded and ran Warner Bros. for more than 50 years, The Brothers Warner is a highly personal documentary written and directed by Harry Warner’s granddaughter. The film trains an especially revealing spotlight on socially conscious Harry, who emerges from the shadow of his flamboyant, ruthless younger sibling Jack. The film traces the Warners’ rise from humble beginnings – their first theater featured a sheet hung on a wall and chairs borrowed from a neighboring funeral parlor – through the studio’s early struggles to their eventual triumphs with such landmark works as The Jazz Singer, Public Enemy and Casablanca. The brothers’ epic story includes never-before-seen photos and footage, and features the recollections of family members and industry colleagues.

The Adventure of Robin Hood
Saturday, November 21, 8 pm
(Michael Curtiz & William Keighley, 1938, USA, 102 min.)

Robin Hood leaps off the big screen in this vibrant restoration of the 1938 Warner Bros. epic, shot in startling Technicolor by legendary Hollywood director Michael Curtiz (who replaced William Keighley). Sir Robin of Locksley (Errol Flynn), defender of downtrodden Saxons, runs afoul of Norman authority and is forced to turn outlaw. With his band of Merry Men, he robs from the rich, gives to the poor and still has time to woo the lovely Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland), foil the cruel Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone) and keep the nefarious Prince John (Claude Rains) off the throne. The Village Voice’s Elliot Stein declares: “‘Robin Hood’ is movie pageantry at its best, done in the grand manner of silent spectacles, brimming over with the sort of primitive energy that drew people to the movies in the first place.”

Shown with the first American version of Robin Hood (Eclair Studio, 1912, 30 min.), a recently restored silent with live musical accompaniment, and The Brothers Warner.

Chops
Sunday, November 22, 6 pm
(Bruce Broder, 2007, USA, 88 min.)

FREE PROGRAM Chops, which debuted at the 2007 Tribeca film fest, tells the story of a group of kids with extraordinary musical ability who learn to make the most of their gifts – and lives – in an acclaimed public-school jazz program in Jacksonville, Fla. The film provides a front-row seat on the young musicians’ transformation into a top-flight ensemble and culminates in a journey to New York City, where the school competes against the best high-school jazz bands in the nation at the prestigious Essentially Ellington Festival. Filmmaker magazine writes: “Comparisons could be made to ‘Spellbound‘ or ‘Wordplay‘ as director Bruce Broder follows the gifted students of the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts as they practice for the competition. But what’s different is it not only shows their talents but how feeding off one another’s abilities makes them create unbelievable music.”

Johnny Dangerously
Wednesday, December 2, 8 pm
-part of Strange Brew: Cult Films at Schlafly Bottleworks.
(Amy Heckerling, 1984, USA, 90 min.)

Amy Heckerling's (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) hilarious send-up of 1930s gangster films, Michael Keaton stars as Johnny Dangerously, a devoted son who turns to a life of crime in order to pay for his mother's operation. As a dapper kingpin, he manages to provide support for her never-ending medical problems while romancing a steamy torch singer (Marilu Henner), battling archrival Danny Vermin (Joe Piscopo) and exposing a corrupt D.A. (Danny DeVito). Presented in the lively atmosphere of Schlafly Bottleworks, 7260 Southwest Avenue, Maplewood Mo. There is ample parking and great beer on tap! Special Admission $4.00

Burning Fuse Traveling Film Festival
Dec 1 –15
In an era when documentary exhibition swerves towards the safe, Burning Fuse Film Festival shows up with six smartly made films that avoid neither controversy nor entertaining their audience. The movies represent decidedly unexpected views of the world, each revealing an unseen corner of the planet with passion and humor.

Soldiers of Conscience
Tuesday, December 1 at 7:30 pm
(Eliza Licht & Theresa Riley, 2007, USA, 86 min.)

Eight US soldiers today face the most difficult decision of their lives: to kill or not to kill. Made with the cooperation of the US Army, the film takes a sharp look war, peace and the transformative power of human conscience.

Pussycay Preacher
Sunday, December 6 at 7:30 pm
(Bill Day, 2008, USA, 75 min.)

A lapsed stripper becomes an evangelical minister, but her ministry outreach to sex workers stirs her congregation’s prejudice and doubt. The film presents a mesmerizing and at times hilarious portrait.

A Snow Mobile for George
Tuesday, December 8 at 7:30 pm
(Todd Darling, 2008, USA 94 min.)

A smoky off-road machine inspires a cross-country tour of de-regulation in America. Stories of West Coast Salmon fishermen, Wyoming cowboys and New York firemen deliver a wry look at what happens to people when the rules change. After the Wall Street collapse this film looks prophetic.

Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
Sunday, December 13 at 7:30 pm
(Dawn Logsdon, 2008, USA, 68 min.)

The untold history of Black New Orleans. Not a Katrina film, but a love letter to a city, revealed when a newspaperman rebuilds a historic house in what may be the oldest black neighborhood in America, and the birthplace of jazz.

Screens with

Sliding Liberia
(Britton Caillouette, 2008, USA, 48 min.)

California surfers head for the beach – in war-torn Liberia. They find big waves, and brave people, including local surfers, who must rebuild a society, battered by years of civil war.

Murder, Spies & Voting Lies: The Clint Curtis Story
Tuesday, December 15 at 7:30 pm
(Patty Sharaf, 2008, USA, 68 min.)

The story of Clint Curtis, a mild mannered computer engineer who finds himself caught between a vote rigging scandal, a powerful legislator, and a murder. Features Gore Vidal, Barbara McKinney and Brad Friedman.

Some Like it Hot
Weekend, December 18, 19 & 20 7:30 pm
(Billy Wilder, 1959, USA, 120 min.)

When Chicago musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) accidentally witness a gangland shooting, they quickly board a southbound train to Florida, disguised as Josephine and Daphne, the two newest and homeliest members of an all-girl jazz band. Their cover is perfect...until a lovelorn singer (Marilyn Monroe) falls for Josephine, an ancient playboy (Joe E. Brown) falls for Daphne, and a mob boss (George Raft) refuses to fall for their hoax. 50th Anniversary Screening

Ghost World
Wednesday, January 6 at 8 pm
- part of Strange Brew: Cult Films at Schlafly Bottleworks
(Terry Zwigoff, 2001, USA, 111 min.)

Adapted by Daniel Clowes and Crumb director Terry Zwigoff from Clowes’s acclaimed graphic novel, Ghost World spends summer vacation with high school graduates Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlet Johansson), as they inflict little tortures on the denizens of urban sprawl, wielding scathing irony as a defense against a “ghost world” full of pop-cultural lemmings and uncertain futures. But when Enid picks a 40- ish vintage-record collector (Steve Buscemi) as the target of her latest cruel prank, she finds herself unexpectedly attracted to him.

Presented in the lively atmosphere of Schlafly Bottleworks, 7260 Southwest Avenue, Maplewood Mo. There is ample parking and great beer on tap!

Special Admission $4.00

Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman
Weekend, January 29, 30 & 31 at 7:30 pm
(Eric Bricker, 2008, USA, 83 min.)

Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, Visual Acoustics celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the world’s greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream. Shulman, who passed away this year, captured the work of nearly every modern and progressive architect since the 1930s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Frank Gehry. His images epitomized the singular beauty of Southern California’s modernist movement and brought its iconic structures to the attention of the general public. This unique film is both a testament to the evolution of modern architecture and a joyful portrait of the magnetic, whip-smart gentleman who chronicled it with his unforgettable images.