2018 “SLIFF BUZZ” winners

There are two outstanding organizations in St. Louis that I particularly appreciate. One is the International Institute – I hope to write about them too some day, and help them out too – and Cinema St. Louis, and more specifically its International Film Festival.
Both offer St. Louis a vital window to the world’s richness and complexity.
Every year, as I preview films, I announce some of the best candidates to look out for – what I call “SLIFF BUZZ.”  This year I was unable to do that, and so, it has to be a post-festival announcement.
Obviously I did not watch all of this year’s 414 films (from 63 countries!), but anyone who genuinely gives the festival a try will sense the tremendous treasure they are privy to.

Here, in no particular order, I would like to highlight films that fight the odds, often in an unusual manner.

• • Vahid Jalilvand for No Date, No Signature/Bedoone Tarikh, Bedoone Emza

• • Matthieu Rytz for Anote’s Ark
    The film’s website.

• • Attila Szász for Eternal Winter/Örök Tél

There are many other films I would like to highlight and more comments to add but it will have to wait until I find some more time…