October Country
Michael Palmieri & Donal Mosher, U.S., 2009, 80 min.
Thursday, Nov. 19, 9:30 p.m., Tivoli 3

“October Country” is a gorgeously rendered portrait of an American family struggling for stability while haunted by the ghosts of war, teen pregnancy, foster care and child abuse. This intimate documentary – co-directed by a member of the family it so probingly examines – reveals the forces that unsettle the working poor and the violence that lurks beneath the surface of American life. Shot over a year from one Halloween to the next, the film poetically uses visual metaphors and cuts among multiple storylines to paint a richly detailed portrait of the Mosher family, who are startlingly unique but also sadly representative of the struggles of America’s working class. “October Country” won the US Sterling Feature Award as Best American Documentary at the prestigious Silverdocs festival.

Old Dog, New Trick
Mike Steinberg & Thomas Crone, U.S., 2009, 49 min.
The Pride of St. Louis
Mike Steinberg & Thomas Crone, U.S., 2009, 31 min.
Friday, Nov. 20, 7 p.m., Tivoli 1

A pair of new rock documentaries – produced under the auspices of CALOP – tracks key players who ascended from the vibrant St. Louis scene of the 1970s to the national stage. “Old Dog, New Trick” follows Steve Scorfina, a founding member of Pavlov’s Dog and REO Speedwagon, as he balances a life in antiques-dealing with a re-launched career as a blues-rock bandleader, guitarist and vocalist. “The Pride of St. Louis” updates fans on the R&B-infused Mama’s Pride, led by brothers Pat and Danny Liston. The group has now reunited to popular acclaim, allowing Mama’s Pride an unlikely second act. Both films discuss the key role of the radio station KSHE-95 in breaking album-oriented rock acts during the heyday of freeform FM radio.
With co-directors Steinberg and Crone and subjects Scorfina and Danny Liston.
Followed by a concert by Scorfina and Liston at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room.

Sponsored by Star Clipper, CALOP and HEC-TV

Operation Babylift:
The Lost Children of Vietnam
Tammy Nguyen Lee, U.S., 2009, 73 min., Vietnamese & English
Saturday, Nov. 21, 5 p.m., Tivoli 1

As America withdrew its forces from Vietnam, Operation Babylift transported more than 2,500 Vietnamese orphans from the war-torn country to the U.S. Although regarded by some as an unprecedented humanitarian effort, the operation was also plagued by lawsuits and political turmoil, and the adoptees grew up facing a unique set of challenges in America, including prejudice intensified by a controversial war. “Operation Babylift” both offers a candid look at the airlift through the eyes of the volunteers, parents and organizations involved and recovers the “lost” stories of the now-adult children brought to the States. In touching, insightful interviews, the former orphans offer complex perspectives on their experiences, discussing their attempts to fit in growing up in the United States, their sense of loss over their unknown previous lives, and their attempts to forge families of their own.
With director Lee, executive producer George Lee, associate producer Jared Rehberg (adoptee), and subjects Jim Zimmerly (adoptee and St. Louis local), Dan Bischoff (adoptee and St. Louis local) and Susan McDonald (caretaker-volunteer and St. Louis local).

A Peaceable Kingdom:
The Journey Home
Jenny Stein, U.S., 2009, 78 min.
Saturday, Nov. 14, 2 p.m., Hi-Pointe

A new documentary from the award-winning filmmakers of “The Witness” – which the LA Times says “may be the most important and persuasive film about animals ever made” – “A Peaceable Kingdom” explores the awakening conscience of seven people (including Howard Lyman, author of “Mad Cowboy”) who grew up in traditional farming culture and have now come to question the basic premises of their inherited way of life. The film provides insight into the farmers’ connections with the animals under their care and traces the complex web of social, psychological and economic forces that have led them to their present dilemma. With strikingly honest interviews and rare footage demonstrating the emotional lives of animals, “A Peaceable Kingdom” challenges stereotypical notions of farmers, farm life and farm animals themselves.
With director Stein, producers James LaVeck and Kevin Smith, and subject Harold Brown.
Followed by a panel on the issues raised by the film.

Playground
Libby Spears, U.S., 2008, 86 min.
Saturday, Nov. 21, 1:30 p.m., Tivoli 3

The sexual exploitation of children is a problem Americans associate exclusively with developing countries, but “Playground” makes clear that it’s a huge industry within the United States. The film traces the epidemic’s roots, including the way children are educated about sex, and couches its cultural observations in a mystery story: the search for an American girl lost to the underbelly of childhood sexual exploitation. “Playground,” which debuted at Tribeca, is executive produced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh, and features animation by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara. Describing the film as “thoughtful, sensitive and broader in its indictments than most treatments of the subject,” Variety summarizes: “Tackling a topic you can’t film, victims you don’t want to identify and a subject from which most auds naturally recoil in horror, helmer Libby Spears works certain wonders with ‘Playground,’ a state-of-the-union address on the sexual exploitation of American children.”

Pop Star on Ice
David Barba and James Pellerito, U.S., 2009, 85 min.
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 7 p.m., Tivoli 1

“Pop Star on Ice” offers an unprecedented behind-the-scenes portrait of always outspoken, frequently outrageous Olympian Johnny Weir, a three-time U.S. Figure Skating National Champion. The inspiration for Jon Heder’s character in “Blades of Glory,” Weir seeks to balance his larger-than-life persona with the constraints of competitive figure skating. The film explores Weir’s complicated relationship with his longtime coach, Priscilla Hill, and his struggles to reach the top of his sport, traveling from small-town Delaware – his training home – to competitions, shopping sprees, fashion shows and personal appearances around the world. Looking through the prism of its most controversial athlete, “Pop Star on Ice” reveals surprising new facets of the graceful, athletic, cutthroat and melodramatic sport of figure skating.

The Power of the Powerless
Cory Taylor, U.S., 2009, 78 min., Czech & English
Saturday, Nov. 14, 8 p.m., Webster

Narrated by Academy Award® winner Jeremy Irons, “The Power of the Powerless” explores Czechoslovakia’s complex history of struggle against controlling totalitarian regimes – from the iron-fisted Stalinist government, through the vibrant and politically active Prague Spring of the 1960s, and into the hard-line backlash of the 1970s. At the heart of the film is the student-led Velvet Revolution of the late 1980s, in which Czech youth, seeing the new era of Gorbachev’s Perestroika and Glasnost, took to the streets to protest their repressive regime and, within weeks, had grown to crowds of a half-million in the streets. The film includes interviews with many dissidents and Velvet Revolution participants, including playwright and post-revolution Czech President Vaclav Havel. Directed by Primetime Emmy winner Cory Taylor, “The Power of the Powerless” won the Golden Palm Award at the Mexico International Film Festival.

Pressure Cooker
Jennifer Grausman & Mark Becker, U.S., 2008, 99 min.
Sunday, Nov. 15, 5 p.m., Tivoli 3

Three seniors at Philadelphia’s troubled Frankford High School find an unlikely champion in Wilma Stephenson. A legend in the school system, Stephenson uses a hilariously blunt boot-camp method of teaching culinary arts, and her approach is validated by years of success. Stephenson’s fierce direction has helped countless students move from working-class Philadelphia’s tough row houses to the nation’s top culinary schools, and in “Pressure Cooker,” she prepares new acolytes Tyree, Erica and Fatoumata for the Culinary Institute of America‘s scholarship competition. The LA Times says the film “manages to be moving, inspirational and tremendously real without ever turning manipulative or preachy,” and the Village Voice praises Stephenson for serving “as a reminder of what the right teacher can mean to a kid looking for a way out.”

Prodigal Sons
Kimberly Reed, 2008, 86 min.
Sunday, Nov. 15, 4 p.m., Tivoli 1

An endlessly astonishing personal documentary, “Prodigal Sons” explores the complicated relationship between filmmaker Kimberly Reed and her troubled brother Marc. Adopted as an infant, Marc was held back in preschool, failed to graduate high school and suffered a traumatic head injury at 21. By contrast, the film’s director served as her high school’s class president and valedictorian. But not everything about her life was quite so simple: The transgendered Kim was once Marc’s younger brother Paul. And that’s scarcely the only surprise that “Prodigal Sons” offers, as Marc and Kim return home to their small Montana hometown to confront their mutual past. Winner of the FIPRESCI critics award at Thessaloniki, “Prodigal Sons” was the sensation of last year’s Telluride festival. The Oxford American says Reed “is warm and smart and utterly beguiling as she leads us through her family’s sad and strange history, which gathers a Shakespearean momentum, and which could make even the stoniest among us weep.”

René
Helena Trestikova, Czech Republic, 2008, 83 min., Czech
Saturday, Nov. 21, 9:30 p.m., Tivoli 3

Filmmaker Helena Trestikova’s epic documentary follows career small-time criminal René Plasil over 20 years, as he moves from teenage delinquent to massively tattooed recidivist. Although clearly intelligent – he publishes several books while in prison – René seems frustratingly incapable of following the straight-and-narrow when the crooked path proves so much quicker and easier. Trestikova’s own fraught relationship with René provides a fascinating subplot: At one point, he robs her apartment and later confesses an odd but undeniable form of love. An alum of multiple fests, including Karlovy Vary, Hotdocs and Silverdocs, “René” won the European Film Academy’s equivalent of the Oscar®, the Prix Arte, as Best Documentary.