"Happy People: A Year in the Taiga" might seem terribly exotic, even a bit off-putting in its foreignness, but it is very seductive.

Spending 24 hours in an emergency room is not anyone's idea of fun. It's a place where dignity and self-sufficiency become humiliation and dependency. That's common knowledge. What "The Waiting Room" shows is much more than that.

Forty-nine million Americans exist without enough to eat. It would be nice if it were enough for a thousand points of light to feed people one at a time. It would be nice if each food pantry fed all the hungry people so everyone else could gorge without shame. But hunger in America is not nice -- and it's not going away because these methods simply do not work. These sorry facts are highlighted in "A Place at the Table," a finely wrought documentary about what it will take to feed the hungry who live in food-rich America.

Most of us have snapshots of our lives, records of the first day of school or the prom. "56 Up" is director Michael Apted's record of the lives of 14 Britishers tells their stories, albeit in brief, through film. "56 Up" continues what he started in 1964 when he first interviewed 10 boys and four girls, each age 7. Its cutesy title was "Seven Up," which explains the current title and those of films in between, shot at seven-year intervals.

Here's a crazy idea: Film some of the world's smallest, most delicate creatures, Monarch butterflies, in one of the world's largest film formats. Then spread those tiny creatures across a giant dome of a screen and hope it works to drop a caterpillar on heads of movie-goers.

With a little time to spare before the 6:15 p.m. showing of "Charles Bradley: Soul of America" at the St. Louis International Film Festival at the Tivoli, I sauntered over to Meshuggah Café and ordered a hot chocolate.

As part of St. Louis International Film Festival, KDHX and the Webster Film Series are proud to present a Master class with filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy.

Since 1963, legendary radio host Bob Fass has calmly and confidently provided commentary and entertainment to listeners tuning in to New York's WBAI (99.5 FM) from midnight to 5:00 a.m. In the vanguard of those at listener-sponsored stations, Fass contributed to and participated in events over the decades, as chronicled in Paul Lovelace and Jessica Wolfson's fine documentary "Radio Unnameable."

Mythologized or demonized, mustangs embody a reality different from many illusory representations. Alex Dawson and Greg Gricus' documentary Wild Horse, Wild Ride details one fascinating chapter for several mustangs as individual trainers, professionals and amateurs, take responsibility for one of the horses rounded up on public land. All individuals have 100 days to tame their mustang.

The audience has spoken! The 2012 International Documentary Challenge Audience Award which is determined by online voting has been announced.