St. Louis International Film Festival Announces Schedule, Including Lots of Music Films

The St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) announced its schedule a few weeks ago -- and as always, the fest has plenty of offerings for music-doc buffs and local music fans. SLIFF runs from November 12 to 22; all ticket info and locations of the films can be found at this link.

Among the documentaries:
*Chops, which follows a Florida high school jazz band as it prepares for and performs at NYC's Essentially Ellington Festival.

*Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense, a survey of the modern jazz scene. Interviews, live performances and club scenes include Ravi Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Medeski Martin & Wood and Bill Frisell.

*Old Dog, New Trick and The Pride of St. Louis. Two separate shorts, the latter focusing on local classic-rock heroes Mama's Pride and the former documenting the life of Steve Scorfina, of Pavlov's Dog. A concert with Danny Liston and Steve Scorfina is taking place later after the November 20 screening at Blueberry Hill's Duck Room.

*The Rink. Keegan Hamilton wrote about this movie over the summer; it's an homage to the roller-skating whizzes in St. Louis' African-American communities.

*RiseUp, which chronicles three Jamaican reggae artists, as they try to develop musical careers amid challenges.

*Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie. The life story of the Woodstock emcee and notorious peace-loving hippie.

*Say My Name. The stories of female hip-hop artists and rappers in the modern world.

*Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love. What happens when Senegalese musician, who has collaborated with artists such as Peter Gabriel, creates an album Egypt, which celebrates his Islam faith -- and spurred controversy.