St. Louis International Film Festival announces schedule for day 2, Friday, Nov. 2

Conor B. Lewis (Director) - Dirty Laundry: The Asbestos Documentary

Zack Johnson (Subject)

• Subject matter is Roxana, IL refinery; Director and subject are local
• Documentary Feature
• Why did a 90-year-old grandmother and housewife die from a rare form of cancer whose only cause is exposure to asbestos? The answer: asbestos dust on the clothes of her husband, who worked at Shell Oil’s Wood River Refinery in the Metro East’s Roxana, Ill. Her grandsons, cousins Conor Lewis and Zack Johnson, set out on a cross-country bike ride with a camera crew and a mission: to gather information on the disease known as mesothelioma, their grandmother’s cause of death. From California to New York, they interview surviving family members, doctors, activists, and members of communities such as Libby, Mont., who are still living with active, toxic asbestos sites. The documentary reveals the stark reality of corporate dissembling and apparent disregard for lives already lost and still being placed at risk from the continued manufacture and use of asbestos, the creation of open asbestos waste sites, and the reckless excavation of contaminated ground.
• Nov. 2, 7:00 PM, Old Bakery Beer Company, Free

GENERAL NARRATIVE & DOCUMENTARY

Steve Young (Subject) - Bathtubs Over Broadway

• Documentary Feature
• Young will perform a few of his favorite industrial-musical songs after the film
• When he started as a comedy writer for the “Late Show with David Letterman,” Steve Young had few interests outside of his day job. But while gathering material for a segment on the show, Steve stumbled onto a few vintage record albums that would change his life forever. Bizarre cast recordings — marked “internal use only” — revealed full-throated Broadway-style musical shows about some of the most recognizable corporations in America: General Electric, McDonald’s, Ford, DuPont, Xerox. Steve didn’t know much about musical theater, but these recordings delighted him in a way that nothing ever had. “Bathtubs Over Broadway” follows Young on his quest to find all he can about this hidden world. While tracking down rare albums, unseen footage, composers, and performers, Steve forms unlikely friendships and discovers that this discarded musical genre starring tractors and bathtubs was bigger than Broadway. With David Letterman, Chita Rivera, Martin Short, Florence Henderson, Susan Stroman, Jello Biafra, and more. Filmmaker Dava Whisenant won the Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award at the Tribeca Film Festival.
• Nov. 2, 7:30 PM, .ZACK

Jordan Albertsen (Director) - Boom

• Documentary Feature
• “Boom” tells the untold story of one of rock ’n’ roll’s wildest and most influential bands, the Sonics. For the first time ever, all five original members of the band tell the true story of how it all went down, beginning to end. “Boom” takes a deep dive, exploring how a relatively unknown band from the Pacific Northwest became a worldwide phenomenon 50 years after their heyday and shaped music for decades to come (whether it was apparent at the time or not). Featuring interviews with homegrown heroes and breakthrough artists alike, including Pearl Jam, the Sex Pistols, Heart, and Mudhoney.

• Nov. 2, 7:30 PM, Stage at KDHX

Stephen Maing (Director) - Crime + Punishment

• Documentary Feature
• Amid a landmark class-action lawsuit over illegal policing quotas, “Crime + Punishment” chronicles the real lives and struggles of a group of black and Latino whistleblower cops and the young minorities they are pressured to arrest and summons in New York City. With unprecedented access, this highly intimate documentary examines the United States’ most powerful police department through the brave efforts of a group of active-duty officers — and one unforgettable private investigator — who risk their careers and safety to bring to light the harmful policing practices that have plagued the precincts and streets of New York City for decades. The New York Times writes: “Earlier this year — not long after Stephen Maing’s documentary ‘Crime+Punishment’ won a special jury award for ‘social impact’ at the Sundance Film Festival — the New York Police Department instituted mandatory ‘no quota’ training for all its officers. The background and meaning of that policy is laid out in Mr. Maing’s meticulous and dismaying film, which also illuminates some of the deep, perhaps intractable problems of policing in New York City and beyond.”
• Friday, Nov. 2, 7:30 PM, Washington U./Brown, Free

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