ST. LOUIS FILM FESTIVAL NOV. 3-12

In November, St. Louis will host some of the best new art house films from around the world during the fourth annual St. Louis Film Festival.

At least 50 films will be shown at the Creve Coeur, Esquire and Tivoli Theaters Nov. 3-12, said Barbara Jones, director of the St. Louis Film Festival.

Jones said the purpose of the festival is to bring in films that would not play in St. Louis and to highlight speciality films that might get lost in the shuffle of major commercial releases. In the past, less than a third of the films in the festival returned to St. Louis for regular runs.

The festival has grown from an attendance of 4,500 in 1992 to a projected 10,000 this year.

Jones, who picks the films, says she makes her choices based on diversity of style, content, perspective, and country of origin. The films will be shown in the evenings and on weekends. Direct from their world premiers at the Toronto and New York Film Festivals, they include:

-- "The Grass Harp," a film adaption of novelist Truman Capote's autobiographical novella starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and Sissy Spacek, and directed by Matthau's son Charles.

-- "Persuasion," an adaption of Jane Austin's novel about a woman who gets a second chance at capturing love she had rejected.

-- "The Journey of August King," the story of a white man who must decide whether to turn over a fugitive slave girl to her cruel master or smuggle her to freedom.

-- "Frankie Starlight," a young man of small stature who becomes a well-known author in Ireland but yearns for love, starring Gabriel Byrne, Anne Parillaud and Matt Dillon.

Tickets to all films are $6. For more information call 314-726-FILM.

The film festival is sponsored in part by Bravo, the Film and Entertainment Network, the Independent Film Channel, Missouri Arts Council, St. Louis Regional Arts Commission and the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis.