As The Whitaker 22nd Annual St. Louis International Film Festival kicks off today (Thursday, November 14), viewers can prepare for a healthy mix of features and shorts that share the black experience – in America and beyond – among the more than 300 features and shorts that will be presented.
One of the most anticipated films of this year’s festival is Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. Directed by Justin Chadwick and starring Idris Elba, the film carries the audience through the life of the former South African president and international symbol for peace and justice. Viewers are given rare insight into Mandela’s early life, coming of age and his more than a quarter-century behind bars as one of the freedom fighters who relentlessly fought to dismantle Apartheid before becoming president of South Africa.
Film and television star Idris Elba steps into the iconic shoes of Mandela for the film in a performance hailed by critics and audiences.
“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” will screen 6 p.m. Saturday November 23 at the Tivoli Theatre.
A Fragile Trust
St. Louis native Gerald Boyd is among the subjects of A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power, and Jayson Blair at the New York Times. At the height of his career, Boyd was arguably the highest-ranking African American in print media as managing editor for the New York Times. Samantha Grant’s documentary highlights the reckless professional behavior of Blair – a low-ranking reporter who shook journalism to his core and cost Boyd and Executive Editor Howell Raines their positions. Boyd’s St. Louis roots are but a footnote in A Fragile Trust, but Grant provides an interesting character study of Blair and his descent into shameless plagiarism and invention of stories.
“A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power, and Jayson Blair at the New York Times” screens 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23 at Plaza Frontenac.
“The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne”
At first sight there is nothing exceptional about the silver-haired, caramel-colored woman in her golden years. But as Kirk Marcolina and Matthew Pond reveal through their film, the charm of Doris Payne gives way to a five-decade-long career as an international jewel thief. Even as the documentary chronicles her life, 80-year-old Payne faces a lengthy prison sentence for grand theft charges, though Payne proclaims her innocence. Payne proves as captivating and provocative as the crimes she claims she committed. She ascends from an impoverished colored girl in the segregated South to a sophisticated jewel thief with heists to her credit that have taken her around the world – including Paris, Tokyo, London and Milan – with unapologetic resolve.
“The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne” screens at 3:45 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 17 at Plaza Frontenac.
“Jim Crow To Barack Obama”
St. Louis’ own Denise Ward Brown uses the personal narratives of octogenarians to illustrate how far America has come with respect to race relations. Her subjects reveal the heartache of living through the age of segregation and the overwhelming joy of experiencing what many of them deem a miracle they thought they would never live to see – an African American being elected president of the United States. Brown’s film shares a special perspective on the leaps and bounds of the tumultuous Civil Rights Movement in a relatively short period of time, considering the years of bondage followed by separate, unequal America experienced by people of color.
“Jim Crow To Barack Obama” will screen at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15 at Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium.
