Charming yet troubled Ben Burns (Lucas Hedges, Oscar® nominee for “Manchester by the Sea”), a 19-year-old with a drug problem, unexpectedly returns home to his family on a fateful Christmas Eve. Holly (Julia Roberts) welcomes her beloved son’s return, but she’s... Read more
Studio Spotlight
The Biggest Little Farm
Sunday, November 11 at 3:30pm
When documentarian John Chester and culinary writer Molly Chester abandon urban living to start their own farm on a patch of depleted soil outside Los Angeles, John chronicles their efforts to create Apricot Lane Farms over eight eventful years. In addition to... Read more
Boy Erased
Sunday, November 4 at 8:00pm
Jared (Lucas Hedges), the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, is outed to his parents (Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe) at age 19. Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a gay-conversion-therapy program or be permanently exiled and shunned by his... Read more
Capernaum
Sunday, November 11 at 5:30pm
A politically charged fable, “Capernaum” — Lebanese director/co-writer Nadine Labaki’s Cannes Jury Prize-winning drama — revolves around Zain (Zain Al Rafeea), a 12-year-old boy who decides to sue his mother and father. When the judge asks Zain why he’s bringing... Read more
Cold War
Sunday, November 4 at 7:00pm
Sunday, November 11 at 1:05pm
“Cold War” — from the director of “Ida,” winner of the Oscar® for Best Foreign-Language Film — is a passionate love story between jazz pianist Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and singer-dancer Zula (Joanna Kulig), two people of different backgrounds and temperaments who are... Read more
Destroyer
Thursday, November 1 at 8:00pm
Directed by native St. Louisan Karyn Kusama (“Girlfight,” “The Invitation”) — who receives SLIFF’s Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award — “Destroyer” follows the moral and existential odyssey of LAPD detective Erin Bell (Oscar® winner Nicole Kidman, who also... Read more
Diane
Sunday, November 4 at 4:30pm
In this nuanced psychological portrait of a 70-year-old widow with a compassionate bent, Diane (Mary Kay Place, “The Big Chill”) spends her life in rural Massachusetts helping the homeless, caring for her sick friends, and attempting to reconnect with her 30-year-... Read more
Dogman
Saturday, November 10 at 7:15pm
The latest from Matteo Garrone (“Gomorrah,” “Reality”), “Dogman” tells the story of Marcello (Marcello Fonte), a small and gentle dog groomer, who finds himself involved in a dangerous relationship of subjugation with Simone (Edoardo Pesce), a former violent boxer... Read more
Everybody Knows
Friday, November 2 at 6:45pm
Sunday, November 4 at 9:00pm
From Oscar®-winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi (“Salesman,” “A Separation”) comes a gripping new thriller about the fissures and faultlines that can tear a family apart. Laura (Penélope Cruz) returns to the small Spanish village where she spent her childhood to... Read more
The Front Runner
Wednesday, November 7 at 7:30pm
Based on Matt Bai’s “All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid,” “The Front Runner” is directed by SLIFF favorite Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air,” “Juno”), who receives our Contemporary Cinema Award. Having lost the Democratic presidential nomination to... Read more
Green Book
Sunday, November 11 at 6:15pm
Academy Award® nominee Viggo Mortensen (“Eastern Promises,” “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy) and Academy Award® winner Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight,” “Hidden Figures”) star in Participant Media and DreamWorks Pictures’ “Green Book.” In his foray into powerfully... Read more
If Beale Street Could Talk
Saturday, November 10 at 5:30pm
Director Barry Jenkins follows his Oscar®-winning “Moonlight” with an adaptation of James Baldwin's classic novel “If Beale Street Could Talk,” a celebration of love told through the story of a young couple and their families. In early-1970s Harlem, wife-to-be... Read more
Little Woods
Saturday, November 10 at 3:00pm
A modern Western, “Little Woods” tells the story of two sisters, Ollie (Tessa Thompson, “Creed,” “Sorry to Bother You”) and Deb (Lily James, “Downton Abbey”), who are driven to work outside the law to better their lives. For years, Ollie has illicitly helped the... Read more
Non-Fiction
Saturday, November 10 at 6:00pm
In the comedy “Non-Fiction” — the new film by Olivier Assayas (“Clouds of Sils Maria,” “Personal Shopper,” “Summer Hours”) — Alain (Guillame Canet), a successful Parisian publisher struggling to adapt to the digital revolution, has major doubts about the new... Read more
Opening-Night Reception with Destroyer
Thursday, November 1 at 6:30pm
SLIFF’s opening night features “Destroyer,” directed by native St. Louisan Karyn Kusama (“Girlfight,” “The Invitation”), who receives SLIFF’s Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award. “Destroyer” follows the moral and existential odyssey of LAPD detective Erin... Read more
Roma
Sunday, November 11 at 9:00pm
The most personal project to date from Academy Award®-winning director and writer Alfonso Cuarón (“Children of Men,” “Y Tu Mama Tambien”), “Roma” follows Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a young domestic worker for a family in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma in... Read more
Shoplifters
Monday, November 5 at 6:45pm
One of Japan’s most lauded contemporary directors, Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Like Father, Like Son,” “After the Storm”) debuted his latest, “Shoplifters,” at Cannes, where it won the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or. After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu... Read more
Support the Girls
Thursday, November 8 at 7:15pm
Lisa (Regina Hall) is the last person you'd expect to find in a highway-side “sports bar with curves,” but as general manager at Double Whammies, she's come to love the place and its customers. An incurable den mother, she nurtures and protects her girls fiercely... Read more
Swimming with Men
Sunday, November 4 at 6:45pm
His job is a drag, his wife may be cheating on him, and he’s not getting any younger. Accountant Eric (Rob Brydon) is simply treading water when he discovers a newfound sense of purpose thanks to an unexpected source: a group of similarly stuck-in-a-rut guys who... Read more
Vox Lux
Saturday, November 10 at 8:15pm
“Vox Lux” follows the rise of Celeste from the ashes of a major national tragedy to pop superstardom. In 1999, teenaged Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) survives a violent tragedy and, after singing at a memorial service, transforms into a burgeoning pop star with the... Read more
Widows
Sunday, November 11 at 5:35pm
In contemporary Chicago, four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands’ criminal activities take fate into their own hands and conspire to forge a future on their own terms. Veronica (Viola Davis) lives an idyllic life in... Read more
Wildlife
Friday, November 9 at 7:05pm
With “Wildlife,” actor Paul Dano makes an impressive debut as a filmmaker and — with co-writer Zoe Kazan — elegantly adapts Richard Ford’s novel of the same name. Fourteen-year-old Joe (Ed Oxenbould) is the only child of housewife Jeanette (Carey Mulligan) and... Read more