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“font-family: Verdana;”>For the half-dozen films featuring or directed by African Americans included in the lineup of Cinema St. Louis’ 11th Annual Stella Artois St. Louis Filmmaker’s Showcase, the subject matter manages to create an instant connection with the audiences.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Shorts that offer interesting perspectives – both heavy and humorous – on relationships and a full-length feature that highlights the drive to create a top-notch sports program are sure to engage and inspire.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Robert Herrera’s The Gray Seasons is a touching and emotional inside look at SLU Women’s Basketball Head Coach Shimmy Gray-Miller as she joins the program with big dreams of taking her team to the top of national rankings.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The film follows the tradition of great sports docs that take viewers on a journey with the range of emotions from thrilling victory to crushing defeat and back again over the course of the entire collegiate sports career of the young women she brought in as freshmen.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Gray-Miller comes in with something to prove and assurance in the ability to deliver the expectations of the athletic program. Her arrival during the 2005 season is a pivotal moment for SLU sports. The school has just broken ground on the multi-million dollar Chaifetz Arena and major staff changes shake the university to its core.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>There is little room for error, and the team is under intense scrutiny as they work to raise the reputation of her lady ballers.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>As Gray-Miller experiences highs and lows of building a powerhouse, she is confronted with the reality that her expectations of overnight success for her team were an illusion. The process of building the foundation for her goals would be would be done one block at a time-filled with setbacks of injuries, emotional exits, stagnancy and frustrations.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Herrera brings the viewer along for the ride in a way that will build a new fan base for the Lady Billikens and their leader. As the cameras capture the team in action, one can’t help but passionately root for them with pride and throw up their arms in frustration when they fail to follow through with the promises made to become winners.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>No emotion is spared and the film’s candid spirit captured from behind the scenes is refreshing.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The nagging regrets, self-criticism, self-reflection, frustration and brutal honesty collectively shared between Gray-Miller and her team offer insight on the heart of a sportsman and their quest to become champions.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The film rivals the classic Hoop Dreams with respect to the heart and determination that Herrera captures through the players and Gray-Miller, but with the added bonus of transparent vulnerability and the complex emotions that naturally come with the combination of womanhood and sportsmanship. “font-family: Verdana;”>
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Relationship shorts “font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>This year’s festival also saw St. Louis filmmaker’s capturing their hearts on film. With Lies We Tell Ourselves, Mariah Richardson bravely exposes her personal truths with respect to her life’s recurring theme of love lost – and never gained. She opens up about past experiences, her own sexuality and dealing with the never-ending desire of a love connection and the painful process of being still and purposeful during the downtime until love finds her.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Lynelle White takes a much more humorous approach to love woes through But It Was Going So Well. A blind date couldn’t get any better as a prospective couple chats the night away and make plans to spend more time together – until baseball suddenly creates a crash and burn.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Love, Guns and Amy “font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>gives “font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Marttise Roosevelt Hill an opportunity to illustrate the tragic casualty of a love war. The silent film speaks volumes as Hill captures the consequences of a love triangle that leads to a duel with an unlikely loss.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Hill, who is studying film at New York University in Singapore, filmed his short movie on location in Singapore with a local cast. His sense of space, ability to frame a variety of difficult images, and singular skill at capturing and editing sound set him apart among local filmmakers. Hill premiered his film locally at a recent showcase of short films about dreams screened at The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, where a sizable crowd was impressed by his movie, one of the buzz films of the event.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The world – and St. Louis American readers – will hear more about
“font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Marttise Roosevelt Hill
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Cinema St. Louis’ 11th Annual Stella Artois St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase will take place from Aug. 13–18 at the Tivoli Theatre, 6350 Delmar. For a full schedule of programs and activities, visit
“http://www.cinemastlouis.org/”>www.cinemastlouis.org
