The 21st St. Louis Whitaker Filmmakers Showcase offers cinema diversity

Proving again what great film talent resides in and hails from our area, Cinema St. Louis’ 21st Annual Whitaker St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase offers ample evidence. Running virtually through Sunday, July 25, the total of one hundred two short and feature length films are grouped into fifteen different programs, individual offerings for features, multi-film compilations for short works.

The Showcase also includes four master classes, specifically addressing Special and Visual Effects, Cinematography, Sound, and the Historical Documentary. Each of these sessions will be recorded and archived for later viewing through the Cinema St. Louis You Tube channel as will be question and answer sessions with feature-film director, thereby adding insight into their choices and ideas. Throughout, style and content offer an impressive diversity, from animation to live action to documentaries, all with English subtitles, if needed.

I’ve had time to view two informative, entertaining documentaries. Paul Schankman’s “House of Thunder” chronicles the remarkable, relatively unknown story of the 1780 Revolutionary War Battle of St. Louis at approximately what is today Busch Stadium. Through archival photos and illustrations, plus interviews with numerous historians on camera, with research stretching from the U.S. to Spain, this critical battle comes to life. The outcome, had it gone a different way, might have altered the course of U.S. history.

Director Larry Foley’s “Indians, Outlaws, Marshals, and the Hangin’ Judge” uses reenactments, archival photographs, films, readings from historical accounts, and contemporary interviews to document an in-depth profile of 1890s Fort Smith Arkansas’ Judge Isaac C. Parker. Following along with St. Louis Republic’s journalist Ada Patterson’s inquiries, interrogating racism, Native Americans’ status, and cavalier law enforcement, the story unfolds of the man known for hanging more men than any other U.S. judge, with Parker’s sculpture erected in Ft. Smith.      

This overview merely skims the breadth and depth of the St. Louis Whitaker Filmmakers Showcase with dramas, comedy, satire, experimental works, and more. Descriptions for each program are listed on the Cinema St. Louis website.