As a teenager, Ademir Koric fled war-torn Bosnia. Today, he teaches computer science at St. Louis’ nationally ranked Metro Academic and Classical High School. But the shadow of violence is hard to escape.
In “Classroom 230,” Ava Farrar — a 2024 graduate of the Film & Media Studies program in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis as well as a Metro High alumna — offers a profile at once fond and harrowing.
“I’m a child of war,” Koric said. “I have been at gunpoint multiple times in my life.” But as a teacher, “maybe there’s somebody here that I can show another way to.” He adds: “Maybe they will remember that I cared about them.”
“Classroom 230” is one of seven films created by WashU students that will be featured in the 24th annual St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase. Organized by Cinema St. Louis, the festival highlights work written, directed, edited and/or produced by St. Louis natives and by those with strong local ties.
“St. Louis has always been, and still is, very central to who I am and how I perceive the world,” said Farrar, who also directed the narrative shorts “Garbage Man” and “Thicker Than Blood.” “I think St. Louis is a great center for the arts. It’s important to me to reflect those cultural elements.”
Expressive works
Deirdre Maitre, a senior lecturer and filmmaker in residence, teaches both documentary and narrative filmmaking. All but two of the accepted films were produced for her classes.
“We cover all five phases of filmmaking — development, pre-production, production, post-production and exhibition,” Maitre said. “Our film students are so amazing that we’re able to compress that curriculum into one semester.
“Our students are willing to take risks,” Maitre continued. “That often has to do with what they’re learning in their film studies classes. They get a strong exposure to film theory, which they’re able to adapt into their own expressive works.
“I think that combination is really quite rare.”
Developing the scene
In all, the Filmmakers Showcase, which runs July 19 to 28, will include 64 films across 10 programs.
“PEPAA,” a short documentary directed, filmed and produced by recent graduates Carlos Mendoza and Max Remy (both AB ’24), will screen July 20. The piece introduces viewers to the Positive Experimental Progressive Arts Association, which celebrates St. Louis jazz with an informal jam every Friday evening in a private residence on Page Avenue.
“The scene develops — music develops — the most when you have these types of sessions, where musicians can get together,” renowned St. Louis saxophonist Kendrick Smith tells the filmmakers. “When that happens, growth happens.” Other interviews include jazz veterans Jerome Williams, Rahtu Johnson and Bernard Terry, as well as pianist and recent WashU biomedical engineering graduate Daniel Herrera.
Also screening July 20, on a program of horror shorts, will be “Blown Vein.” With its ominous air and thumping soundscape, the piece — written and directed by Shaun Rousso (BS ’24) and produced and photographed by rising juniors Sophie Weiss and Emelia Pierre — recalls Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.” But where Poe’s desperate narrator buries his shame, Rousso’s protagonist steadily ascends to savage culmination.
‘Show me and I remember’
Two narrative works directed by Farrar will screen July 21. “Thicker Than Blood” is an all-too-timely morality tale created during her semester abroad at FAMU, the prestigious film and television academy in Prague. “Garbage Man,” which features cinematography by Mendoza and production design by rising senior Jessie Goodwin, is a poignant character study of a St. Louis widower.
Screening July 27 will be “Classroom 230” as well as Mendoza’s kaleidoscopic “Elation,” an experimental short created for a class led by Monika Weiss, a professor of art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.
Rounding out the WashU entries, and also screening July 27, is “Animal Camp” by 2024 graduate Annie Mitnick. Like “PEPPA” and “Classroom 230,” the film was created for Maitre’s documentary production class. It centers on Cub Creek Science Camp in Rolla, Missouri, a residential summer camp for kids aged 7 to 17 that is home to more than 300 animals representing 100 species.
“You’ve probably heard the quote,” founder Lori Martin tells Mitnick, a native New Yorker who herself spent six summers at Cub Creek. “’Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.’”
The 2024 St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase runs July 19 to 28. All screenings take place at the Hi-Pointe Theatre, 1005 McCausland Ave. Tickets are $15 for each program, or $12 for students with valid photo ID and for Cinema St. Louis members. For the full schedule or more information, visit cinemastlouis.org.
