St. Louis International Film Festival to offer more Black American stories

When the Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival returns to Cinema St Louis on Thursday, festivalgoers will get to see how filmmakers from around the world approach their art.

Festival organizers will play almost 280 films, documentaries and shorts at the festival, which runs through Nov. 19 at the Alamo Drafthouse, Webster University, Washington University, the Contemporary Art Museum and the Hi-Pointe Theatre.

The festival will continue its Race in America: The Black Experience Spotlight, with 16 films that focus on stories documenting the Black experience.

This year’s spotlight was programmed by St. Louis-based filmmaker Emmett Williams. The lineup includes “Black Barbie,” a documentary by Lagueria Davis on the first Black Barbie doll, and “Ellis,” a movie about acclaimed jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis, directed by Sascha Just. The film will be shown at Washington University in tribute to St. Louis Post-Dispatch jazz and theater critic Calvin Wilson, who died in August.

Cinema St. Louis purchased the Hi-Pointe in January. The venue is the organization's new home and will play a variety of award-winning films, Executive Director Bree Maniscalco said.

“We have multiple films that are Oscar entries for many other categories and countries,” Maniscalco said. “We have films that have played at the likes of Telluride, Toronto and Cannes, so they've done the festival circuit and they are picking up prizes left and right, so audience members truly will get to see the best of the best this year.”