St. Louis International Film Festival continues with Great Selections

The second half of the 30th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival has in-person and virtual screenings through November 21 with many exceptional programs, including four superb narrative films.

First on screen is director Céline Sciamma’s “Petite Maman.” In it two eight-year-old girls, played by twins, meet in the woods near their mother’s childhood home as it is cleared.  

The time overlap that occurs unfolds with conviction and exquisite flights of fantasy. Next is “Encounter” in which a terrifying Riz Ahmed plays father Malik kidnapping his two sons to save them from a destructive alien species. Wildly charging forward in every scene, the action unfolds with Ahmed as a powerful, astonishing force. Third, director Reinaldo Marcus Green’s “King Richard” focuses on Richard Williams, the single-minded father of the great tennis sisters, Venus and Serena Williams. In a phenomenal performance, Will Smith as Richard guides their talent through a racist sport where opportunities arrive only because of his unflinching, unflappable determination with support from his wife Oracene. “King Richard” tells a thrilling, inspirational story.   

Fourth on my best list is Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero.” When Rahim receives a two-day pass from debtors’ prison in Shiraz, he schemes to use gold coins to pay his debt. A web of social connections and media coverage catapult him into public scrutiny as twists and turns test Rahim’s mettle.

Among documentaries, “Beijing Spring” stands out for its tracing the Chinese art community’s courageous resistance over decades. Similarly, “A Fire Within” follows three Ethiopian women who accidentally encounter their 1970s torturer in an Atlanta hotel. With amazing strength, they bring an unprecedented court case against him, seeking justice. Also seeking justice in “The First Step,” Van Jones successfully pursues the complicated path to getting a prison/sentencing reform law passed.

Fifty-year anniversary films include “The French Connection,” “A Clockwork Orange,” “Two-Lane Blacktop,” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” And the Fest concludes Sunday, November 21 with the Tribute to Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Mary Strauss, philanthropist and long-time Film Festival supporter. That event will be followed by a screening of her favorite film, “Sunset Boulevard,” before the closing-night Awards presentation. There’s so much more. For more information on times, venues, descriptions, and trailers of programs as well as the COVID-19 protocols, you may visit the Cinema St. Louis website.