3rd Annual St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, presented by Cinema St. Louis

The staff of Cinema St. Louis is seeing stars after the grand finale of the 3rd Annual St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase. The Pageant Theater was rocking hard on Sunday night as a crowd of over 700 people made the world premiere of the locally produced feature film Amphetamine a wild and rousing success. Madison from 104.1 The Mall started off the evening and revved up the packed house prior to the screening. This film had the largest single audience for any film screening in the history of Cinema St. Louis, which is the organization formerly known as the S. Louis International Film Festival. The screening of the film, directed by Chris Grega, was followed by a lively concert by rockabilly phenom The Trip Daddys and local tunesters Poppies 3.

Guests from out of town over the 5-day event included actor Rob Roy Fitzgerald, star of the film "Lap Dancing"; MaryEllen Owens, star of "Beautiful Memory Picture" directed by her husband Keith Clark; Jeff Rector, writer/director/star of "Fatal Kiss"; Chris Folkens, director/producer/composer of "Triad"; and Joe Leonard, director of "Personal Soundtrack" and "Wish I Had A Camera." Dennis Dailey, one of the directors of "A View From The Top: KXOK In The 60's," attended his screening on Saturday afternoon after his wedding and reception earlier that day and prior to his departure for his honeymoon. Now that's dedication!

65 filmmakers were included in this years Showcase. Many of the directors nervously awaited the announcement of the films selected to screen again in the St. Louis International Film Festival this fall. This selection is an important bonus to those chosen because it gives them another chance to screen to the general public in St. Louis during the fall event, plus greater exposure to the international film community due to its placement in world renowned film festival. This year 20 films and their filmmakers were chosen for this special honor. They are:

Amphetamine directed by Chris Grega; "Backslide" directed by Rick Ross; "Beautiful Memory Picture" directed by Keith Clark; "Blackmail" directed by Jeff Stevens; "Blue Khmer" directed by Roy Zurick; "Defining Reason" directed by Michael Witman; Gaslight Square: The Forgotten Landmark directed by Bruce Marren; "Grumboon" directed by Aaron Crozier; "Gus" directed by Dan Bowers; "Harold The Scarecrow" directed by Rich Zimmerman; "Hitler's Honeymoon" directed by Mark Errante; "Inches" directed by Frank McKeown; "Lap Dancing" directed by Brent Huff; "Matthew And The Dead Body" directed by Ryan Samul; "The Niger River Trek: An Uncommon Adventure" directed by Bobbie Lautenschlager and Patricia Scallet; "The Players" directed by Srikant Chellapa; "The Third Date" directed by Amy Barrett; "Through Our Eyes: Stories From America's Eldest Generation" directed by Dave McCahan; "Triad" directed by Chris Folkens; and "A View From The Top: KXOK In The 60's" directed by Dennis Dailey, Cynthia Freeman and Richard True.

Attendance topped out at just over 2200, which is a record for the event and marks a 10% increase over last year. This is significant in that the event had 5 fewer programs and one less day of screenings in 2003. In addition to this record and that of the audience for our Amphetamine finale, Cinema St. Louis was proud to include a documentary film by Joe Anton, a 7th grader at Ladue Middle School. This talented young director is officially the youngest participant in the history of the organization.

This event was co-presented by Cinema St. Louis and the Missouri Historical Society; and co-sponsored by the Riverfront Times, 104.1 The Mall, the Missouri Film Commission, and Avatar Studios.