St. Louis International Film Festival facts for kids
| Location | St. Louis, Missouri |
|---|---|
| Website | http://www.cinemastlouis.org/ |
The St. Louis International Film Festival (also known as SLIFF or Cinema St. Louis) is a big movie event that happens every year in St. Louis, Missouri. It started in 1992 and has been showing amazing films ever since! The group that organizes it changed its name to "Cinema St. Louis" in 2003. Each November, the festival shows about 300 different movies over 10 days.
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Festival History
The SLIFF started in 1992. Its main goal was to put on yearly film events to help people see movies as a special art form. In its very first year, 25 movies were shown during the last week of April, and about 4,500 people came to watch them.
Growing the Festival
In 1993, the festival became an official non-profit group in Missouri. This means they don't make money for themselves, but use it to run the festival and support film. That year, they showed 33 movies, and 20% more people came! By 1994, the festival lasted 10 days and showed movies in three different theaters. Eleven film directors even came to St. Louis for their movie premieres. Also in 1994, the "Friends of the St. Louis International Film Festival" group was started. They help the festival by giving money and volunteering.
In 1995, the festival moved from April to November. It grew to include more than 50 new movies shown for the first time in St. Louis. They also started two yearly awards: the Fox Theatre First Feature Award (chosen by judges) and the Audience Choice Award (chosen by the people watching the movies).
New Features and Awards
A special event called the New Filmmakers Forum started in 1996. This was a place for new movie makers to show their work. By 1997, over 10,000 people were coming to the festival! Twenty-eight guest filmmakers attended, and a special event honored the famous actor Tony Curtis at the Fox Theatre. He received a Hollywood Film Artist Award.
In 1998, the festival offices moved to a new spot in St. Louis. That year, the festival also had a special collection of older movies (from 1915-1965) that had all-Black actors and were made for Black audiences.
From 1999 to 2000, the festival kept adding more types of movies, especially documentaries (movies about real life) and short films. They also started giving out more awards. In 2000, some of the awards included:
- Emerson Electric Audience Choice Award
- Leon Award for Best Documentary
- Interfaith Award
- Fox Theatre Emerging Filmmaker Award
- Best of Fest Short Film Award
- Emerging Actor Award
In 2003, the festival officially changed its name to Cinema St. Louis.
Recent Highlights
The 2009 festival had a big event for the movie Up in the Air. This movie was filmed a lot in St. Louis! The director, Jason Reitman, even came for a question-and-answer session with the audience.
SLIFF has also asked a group called The Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra to create new music for old silent films. They performed new music for Häxan in 2010 and Die Bergkatze in 2011.
Featured Films and Awards
The St. Louis International Film Festival has shown many great movies and given out awards to talented people.
Featured Films
Here are some of the famous movies that have been shown at the festival:
- Chungking Express, 1995, directed by Wong Kar-wai
- Happiness, 1998, directed by Todd Solondz
- All About My Mother, 1999, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
- Kinsey, 2004, directed by Bill Condon
- Up in the Air, 2009, directed by Jason Reitman
Festival Awards
Here are some of the awards given out at SLIFF:
- Emerson Audience Award 1999, for Boys Don't Cry, directed by Kimberly Peirce
- SAG Emerging Actors Award 2000, to Peter Sarsgaard
- New Filmmakers Forum Emerging Director 2000, for Steel City, directed by Brian Jun
- Lifetime Achievement Award 2002, to Kevin Kline
- Cinema St. Louis Award 2005, to Cedric the Entertainer
- Short Short Award 2010, for 1925 aka Hell, directed by Max Hattler
