Opening Night - Celebrating 50 Years of Hip-Hop Through Film and Music
Hi-Pointe Theatre
Co-presented with the Saint Louis Art Museum
SPONSORED by Barry & Jackie Albrecht
Join us for an unforgettable evening featuring complimentary* beer, wine, and entertainment by DJ Charlie Chan Soprano, the official DJ for Run DMC. Following the reception, immerse yourself in the world of hip-hop, currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, through an exploration of its presence in film and the vibrant evolution of the culture right here in St. Louis.
This event is proudly co-presented with the Saint Louis Art Museum's exhibition, "Culture: Hip Hop & Contemporary Art in the 21st Century." This immersive showcase offers a profound journey into hip hop's global impact on art and culture, spanning music, visual arts, fashion, technology, and more, underscoring its immense international significance.
Producer Lyah LeFlore-Ituen will moderate the conversation and include the following panelists:
- Lyah LeFlore-Ituen, Producer and Owner of Dolly’s Girls Productions, Inc., is one of the most versatile, talented, and respected creatives in the entertainment industry.
- Andréa Purnell, audience development manager and co-curator of “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century” at the Saint Louis Art Museum.
- Finsta, AMP St. Louis, host of St. Louis’ longest-running iconic hip-hop club night, the Hi-Pointe Café (where up-and-coming artists honed their skills and platinum recording producer scouted for talent) as a part-time on-air personality for a show called, “Phatlaces” with DJ Needles.
- Dana Christian, Cinematographer, owns and operates Breaking The 180, which produces video/film content for corporate and entertainment companies. Christian directed music videos for clients including Murphy Lee, Chingy, Yo Gotti, Johnny Gill, and Ginuwine.
- Zachary Manditch-Prottas, Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis, is jointly appointed in the Department of African and African American Studies and American Culture Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, and currently, he and Professor Jonathan Fenderson are co-teaching a yearlong course at WashU called “Beats, Rhymes, and Life: A Cultural History of Hip-Hop.”
- DJ Charlie Chan Soprano is a St. Louis-born and bred DJ known worldwide as a turn-tableist and DJ for Run-DMC.
Following the 60-minute conversation, we will screen the 1990 classic House Party, directed by East St. Louisan Reginald Hudlin.
*Each guest (21+) receives two drink tickets good for Urban Chestnut beer or wine.
LIVESTREAM
Masterclass with Rick Goldsmith
Webster U./Sverdrup
During this master class, twice-Academy-Award nominated Rick Goldsmith (movies) will share insights and engage with class members on the critical challenge of establishing a trusting and two-way relationship between you and your subjects.
After you ask yourself such questions as what is the heart of the story I want to tell? why am I the one to tell it? and what is at stake? you are faced with real people, engaged in exciting, terrifying, adrenaline-inducing, uncomfortable and sometimes life-changing events and journeys. They are undoubtedly risking a lot, making themselves vulnerable to you, and through your work, to the whole world. How do you establish a trusting, non-exploitive relationship? Can you be as vulnerable as you are asking them to be? How do you balance your obligations to your audience with your obligations to your subjects?
Goldsmith will draw on his own four decades of documentary-making experience, writing and directing films dealing with such areas as political activism, mental health and illness, and surviving journalism while it is under siege. He will challenge you to dig deep to explore your own emotions in concert with your professional aspirations.
Master Class - Screenwriting as a Second Act
Hi-Pointe Backlot
Some people are lucky enough to stumble into the perfect career for them at 18 and stay working in that field until retirement, but the rest of us tend to bounce around a bit.
Join us for a discussion with our panel of Missouri Stories Alums who found their way to screenwriting after another career as a second act. This panel will feature 2022 fellows Shawn Mahan and Jennifer Ramsey. The class will be moderated by Grace Smith, MO Film Office Coordinator.
- Shawn Mahan: Like most film school students, Shawn planned to be the next Great American Director. Unfortunately, he soon discovered that he didn’t know f-stops from sprocket holes. However, he did find out that he could write. After college, he experienced some writing success and then turned to focus on career and family. After 20 very successful years running Art House Cinemas, Shawn pulled the old laptop out and happily discovered that he still had a passion for screenwriting.
- Jennifer Ramsey: When not saving all creatures, great and small, at her day job as a veterinarian, Jennifer writes contemporary and historical fantasy, grounded science fiction, children’s programming, and family stories…with a fondness for adaptations. Born, raised, and currently still in Kansas, she’s come to appreciate the fantastic within the mundane—a theme that drives her magical realism-esque style.
- Grace Albers Smith is the Coordinator for the Missouri Film Office, specializing in social media management, marketing, and filmmaker relations. They are a Jefferson City native and earned their bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing at Missouri State University, after which they moved to Los Angeles to pursue a master’s degree in Writing and Producing for TV from Loyola Marymount University.
This class is free, thanks to generous support from the Chellappa-Vedavalli Foundation.
Master Class - A Conversation with Director Millicent Shelton
Capes Sokol
Join us as our host, Lyah LeFlore-Ituen discusses the accomplished career of St. Louisan Millicent Shelton. LeFlore-Ituen will explore Shelton's career in music, film, and TV production and direction and how Shelton's journey in the industry as a Black woman evolved across the different mediums.
This is a virtual conversation with a live audience.
- Millicent Shelton: After making her mark as one of the premiere female Music Video directors, Millicent Shelton has become an award-winning director for television and film. She has directed over 100 episodes of television which include an array of comedies and dramas, working with noteworthy actors, including Al Pacino on Hunters, Octavia Spencer on Truth Be Told, Brie Larson on Lessons in Chemistry, and Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon on The Morning Show. She also directed the pilot episode of the Starz comedy hit, Run the World. Most recently, her work can be seen in Netflix’s No.1 film, End of The Road, starring Queen Latifah and Ludacris.
- Lyah LeFlore-Ituen: Owner of Dolly’s Girls Productions, Inc., Executive Producer/Writer Lyah LeFlore-Ituen is one of the most versatile, talented, and respected creatives in the entertainment industry. Her experiences in the last twenty-plus years include television and film executive, producer, music supervisor, and author of eight critically acclaimed books. LeFlore-Ituen co-founded the Shirley Bradley LeFlore Foundation, a literary arts organization and scholarship fund named for her late mother, St. Louis Poet Laureate Emeritus. The foundation is housed within the Kranzberg Arts Foundation’s High Low.
This class is free, thanks to generous support from the Chellappa-Vedavalli Foundation.
Master Class - The State of Film Production in Missouri
Capes Sokol
Doors open at 6:00 pm, the Panel starts at 6:30 pm, and happy hour and networking to follow.
Directions: There is paid parking in the building garage and metered parking on the street. To reach the Capes Sokol offices, enter the lobby, follow the sign pointing to the Regions Centre, and go up the stone steps or ramp; enter the building marked Regions Centre and go up the elevator to the 15th floor.
This master class will feature an expert panel discussion on the current and near-future state of film production in Missouri in light of the recent implementation of the new Missouri Motion Media Production Tax Credit, beginning with a brief overview of the tax credit program itself and its role in film financing, and addressing the many opportunities — and challenges — the program presents for the regional film and business community.
The panel will be moderated by Pete Salsich of Capes Sokol – The Screen Lawyer – and will feature Andrea Sporic Klund from the Missouri Film Office, Cole Payne, President of Film in MO, and Renee M. Eichelberger from the St. Louis Film Office, as well as St. Louis native and long-time Hollywood producer Michael Beugg joining live from LA via Zoom to discuss his past experiences filming in Missouri and sharing a producer’s point of view when considering whether to bring a film to Missouri for production.
- Michael Beugg, a St. Louis native, producer, and line producer of nearly 50 films, including the award-winning and nominated films Up In the Air, La La Land, Little Miss Sunshine, Dolemite is My Name, Thank you for Smoking, and Wonder, box office hits Ghostbusters: Afterlife and He’s Just Not That Into You, and his current projects, The Color Purple musical and Wolfs, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt. His frequent collaborators include directors Jason Reitman, Damien Chazelle, and St. Louisans Ken Kwapis and the late George Hickenlooper. Before the film industry, he worked in energy and environmental policy at the White House Budget Office (OMB), where his budgets had considerably more digits. Beugg has an MBA/Public Management degree from Stanford University, a BA from Yale University, and is a member of the Directors and Producers Guilds of America. A frequent SLIFF panelist, Beugg and his family live in Los Angeles.
- Pete Salsich III, known as The Screen Lawyer, is an experienced intellectual property attorney whose practice is focused on advising large and small companies and entrepreneurs regarding the creation, protection, and use of intellectual property in both litigation and transactional counseling, particularly in the media, technology, and entertainment industries.
- Andrea Sporcic Klund is the film commissioner for Missouri and runs the Missouri Film Office, which is a part of the Missouri Division of Tourism. She has been in the film biz representing Missouri for more than 20 years. Since 2005, she has worked to market Missouri to the film and television industry nationwide.
- Cole Payne is Mid-Missouri native and owner of Traverse Media, a production and sales company. He has financed, produced and sold numerous films such as Sundance selections Downloading Nancy and Antibirth as well as the first Facebook Live movie Stream. Payne also consults to provide support for financiers, government entities and non-profit organizations in regards to media finance, subsidies and tax incentives.
- Renee M. Eichelberger, CTP, CTIS, CSTP is the Senior Director of Leisure Travel Sales at Explore St. Louis. She is responsible for conducting domestic and international leisure travel sales activities by targeting tour operators, third-party intermediaries, and general consumers. Since 2017 she has taken point for the St. Louis Film Office.
This class is free, thanks to generous support from the Chellappa-Vedavalli Foundation.
Closing Night - SLIFF Awards Party & Lifetime Achievement Award to Reginald Hudlin
Hi-Pointe Theatre
SPONSORED by Barry & Jackie Albrecht
Join us for an evening complete with complimentary* beer and wine while Trackstar, the DJ (DJ for Run the Jewels), brings the hip-hop celebration to a close.
SLIFF will then present its juried-competition awards: the Interfaith Awards for Best Documentary and Best Narrative; the Shorts Awards; the St. Louis Film Critics’ Joe Pollack Award (for Best Narrative) and Joe Williams Award (for Best Documentary); and the New Filmmakers Forum Emerging Director Award (“The Bobbie”), which has a $500 cash prize. The Spotlight caps the juried awards on Inspiration Documentary Award presentation, which features a $5,000 cash prize. The awards presentations conclude with SLIFF’s audience-choice awards: the Leon Award for Best Documentary, the Award for Best International Film, and the Best Film Award.
The evening will come to a close with a conversation with the Post-Dispatch music critic, Kevin Johnson, and East St. Louis native and award-winning director, producer, and entertainment executive Reginald Hudlin. We will pay tribute to the accomplishments of his career and get a sneak peek of his latest film, Candy Cane Lane, coming to Amazon on Dec. 1.
CSL executive director Bree Maniscalco and Hudlin's longtime friend, Lyah LeFlore-Ituen, will then present Hudlin with the SLIFF Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Reginald Hudlin, Oscar and Emmy-nominated director and producer Reginald Hudlin is one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation. Hudlin’s first feature film was House Party, which was recently inducted into the National Film Registry.
- Kevin Johnson has been the Pop Music Writer and Critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch since 1998 and has written reviews and feature stories covering all facets of the St. Louis music scene. Kevin’s stories have been picked up by numerous national publications and outlets, including the Associated Press, CNN, Tribune News Service, Billboard, BBC, E! News, the Washington Post, Vibe, Complex, and AOL. Kevin is from the DC area, having graduated from the University of Maryland-College Park.
- Trackstar the DJ is best known for his prolific mixtape work, and as the tour DJ for Run the Jewels, Trackstar the DJ has been fortunate to travel the world playing music he loves, working and performing with many of the greatest artists in hip hop since his start behind the turntables on college radio in St Louis in 1999.
*Each guest (21+) receives two drink tickets good for Urban Chestnut beer or wine.
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PO Box 29477, 11662 Gravois RdSt. Louis, MO 63126
Hi-Pointe 314-644-1100
Backlot 314-833-5307
