Cinema St. Louis (CSL) stands with those who demand an end to the systemic racism that deforms the whole of American society.

The specific catalyst for the protests was the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, but the list of unarmed African Americans who have died at the hands of police officers and vigilantes is dismayingly long and includes two other recent casualties, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.

They are only the latest victims of America’s blighted history of racial violence.

A core aspect of CSL’s mission is to provide opportunities for education, engagement, and reflection, and we fervently hope that our organization can play at least a small role in helping address and redress these wrongs by offering filmmakers a platform both to tell stories of racial injustice and protest and to celebrate diverse cultures and identities in all their forms.

CSL will continue to shine a revealing light on injustice in the U.S. and the world through our programming, which includes the St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF)’s Race in America: The Black Experience and the Human Rights Spotlight.

For those looking for insight into the issues at the heart of the protests, we’d like to suggest a handful of films featured during the past several years in SLIFF:

Recommended Viewing