SLIFF BUZZ ’13 – Some Recommendations

Amongst 350 films at the St. Louis International Film Festival, there are of course a great many more… below is  a short selection of some seen and some unseen (guesses) films I would recommend. I will post others (after the festival during which I was “kidnapped” by a Serbian filmmaker – more about this at a later point).

The Photograph (Zdjecie)
2013, 80 min., Polish
Fri, Nov 15th at 2:00pm & Sun, Nov 24th at 8:45pm
Plaza Frontenac Cinema
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The Suicide Shop (Le magasin des suicides) by the talented French director Patrice Leconte (“Girl on the Bridge,” “Ridicule,” “Mr. Hire”) – with his first animation feature.
Fri, Nov 15th at 7:15pm & Sat, Nov 16th at 3:30pm
Tivoli Theatre
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Out of Print
2013, 55 min.
Sat, Nov 16th at 4:00pm
Webster U./Moore
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With director Roumani (by Skype) and a panel of St. Louis experts.
[From the film’s website: Vivienne Roumani is an independent producer/director based in New York City. She brings to Out of Print  a unique perspective gained as a director at the Library of Congress and the UC Berkeley Library, where she led digitization projects. Vivienne’s previous documentary, The Last Jews of Libya, narrated by Isabella Rossellini, had its U.S. premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival and was subsequently screened at major festivals and other venues around the world as well as on the Sundance channel.]
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Computer Chess
2013, 92 min.
Sat, Nov 16th at 6:30pm
Tivoli Theatre
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Andrew Bujalski (“Mutual Appreciation,” “Funny Ha Ha,” “Beeswax”) sends you back to 1980 for a weekend tournament of chess software programmers, recorded with a “vintage” B&W early video camera to witness, again for some, the search for intelligent interaction between machines and humans, and humans and humans. Should make all early geeks and video-artists very happy!

The movie poster.

CAIRO 678
Saturday November 16, 9:30 p.m.
at the Plaza Frontenac
By Mohamed Diab, 2012, Egypt, 100 min.

My Review:
Based on real events, the film follows the separate lives of three Cairo women – played by three compelling actresses.
At first each story is presented as a single strand; slowly though, as through the perspective of some Brechtian “Distancing/Alienation Effect,” each saga ends up related to the others.
As the women meet each other, sexual harassment appears to be the pervasive and inescapable fabric of Egyptian culture, and once more, the personal becomes political.
The tension between oppressive conditions and the need to rebel has been portrayed cinematically many times before (as in such classics as Eisenstein’s Potemkin and Ruy Guerra’s Os Fuzis), but here, in the land of the Arab Spring, the awakening of consciousness of this small band of Amazon warriors makes for a most resounding thriller.

The Trailer:

More about Cairo 672 here.
The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne
2013, 74 min.
Sun, Nov 17th at 3:45pm
Plaza Frontenac Cinema
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A documentary about a lifetime of unapologetic stealing diamonds all over the world that brings this octogenarian, again in front of justice… what will happen now? Hollywood is now developing a feature film about her with Halle Berry.

Doris Payne in 1965

CowJews and Indians
2013, 90 min., English, German & Lakota
Sun, Nov 17th at 6:30pm
Plaza Frontenac Cinema
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