Festival Data:

• Established: 1992
• Genre: General
• Attendance: 18500
• Media Attendance: 30
• Accredited Industry Attendance: 50
• Total Number of Films Submitted: 1200
• Total Number of Films Screened: 260
• Total Screenings: 112
• # of Features Screened: 66
• Accreditations: AMPAS

• Competitive
• Retrospective
• Has Panels
• Has Seminars
• Workshops

Festival Website:

Festival Description:

The St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) showcases the best in cutting-edge features and shorts from around the globe. The majority of the films screened - many of them critically lauded award-winners - will receive their only St. Louis exposure at the festival. The 2007 fest featured more than 260 films in 112 programs: 66 features (including more than 43 international films), 24 documentary programs, and 171 shorts. SLIFF spotlights the finest filmmakers in the world, whether fresh talent, emerging artists largely unknown outside their native countries, or directors of long-established reputation. SLIFF prides itself on identifying up-and-coming filmmakers, but the fest also offers high-profile films that garner Oscar nominations. Programming is organized into thematic sidebars. Sidebars in 2007 included the Leon and Mary Strauss Documentary Sidebar; International Film Sidebar (with special focuses on Croatia, France, and China); Family Film Sidebar; Cinema for Students, presented by the St. Louis Rams; Anheuser-Busch African/African-American Sidebar; American Independent Sidebar; Hollywood Spotlight; Whitaker Foundation Cinema St. Louis Sidebar; Women in Film Sidebar; Vital Voice Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Sidebar presented by Here! Films; AtomFilms Short Subject Sidebar; Animation Sidebar; Midwest Music Silent Film Sidebar; Art and Music Sidebar; Asian Sidebar; Eastern European Sidebar; Interfaith Sidebar; True/False Sidebar; Global Lens; and AFI Project: 20/20.

The juried InBaseline New Filmmakers Forum (NFF) annually features five movies by promising first-time directors, who accompany their work. Craig Brewer is NFF's most notable alum. His "The Poor & the Hungry" appeared at the 2002 SLIFF, and in 2005, Brewer's "Hustle & Flow" debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, receiving adulatory notices. In 2007, the NFF jury was headed by Scott Foundas, film editor for the LA Weekly and film critic for Variety. Previous NFF jury heads include Salon's Stephanie Zacharek and Charles Taylor, and New York Magazine's David Edelstein.

Prominent filmmakers add glamour and star power to SLIFF. Past honorees and guests include Oscar-winning actor Kevin Kline; four-time Oscar nominee Marsha Mason, legendary documentarians Ken Burns ("The Civil War," "Baseball," "Jazz"), Albert Maysles ("Gimme Shelter," "Grey Gardens"), and two-time Oscar nominee Alex Gibney ("Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room," "Taxi to the Dark Side"); and writer-directors Bob Gale ("Back to the Future"), George Hickenlooper ("Factory Girl"), Ken Kwapis ("The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"), and James Gunn ("Slither"), all native St. Louisans.

The St. Louis International Film Festival Inc. was established for the purpose of producing, promoting, and presenting annual film events to advance film as an art form in St. Louis. By its third year, the Festival had expanded into a 10-day event at three theaters, and 11 film directors attended their St. Louis premieres, greeting festival-goers and fielding questions from the audience about their art. Filmmaker attendance has been an important aspect of the St. Louis International Film Festival since its inception. As the Festival continued to expand the range of its offerings, especially in the areas of documentary and short films. The number of awards the Festival presents has also grown; in 2000, they included the Emerson Electric Audience Choice Award, the Leon Award for Best Documentary, the Interfaith Award, the Fox Theatre Emerging Filmmaker Award, the Best of Fest Short Film Award, and the Emerging Actor Award. In 2003 the organization officially changed its name to Cinema St. Louis in order to more fully reflect the wide range of its programming.

Film Submissions:

• Accepts direct submissions
• Submission formats: Beta-SP, Digi-Beta, 35mm, DVD, Other
• Call for Entry: http:/ / www.cinemastlouis.org/ festival