The Problem of the Hero screens at St. Louis International Film Festival after Impact Award win at Naples International FilmFest

The Problem of the Hero screens at the St. Louis International Film Festival after Impact Award win at the Naples International Film Festival.

One of the new films screening at the upcoming 2023 St. Louis International Film Festival (November 9 – 19) is one that we believe you’ll be interested in. Audiences & critics agree –  The Problem of the Hero resonates with the times in which we live; but likely also with your interests, your studies, and your work in the St. Louis region.

Fresh off the film’s Impact Award win at the Naples International Film Festival last week, we encourage you to spread the word, make your plans, and bring a friend to attend the screening – Saturday, November 11th at 1 p.m., at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 3765 Foundry Way, Suite 275, St. Louis, MO 63110.  Director Shaun Dozier and Executive Producers Serena Ebhardt & David zum Brunnen will be present for a post-show screening discussion.

This will be the film’s Midwest Premiere.  The screening will take place in Theater 9.

The Problem of the Hero, from EbzB Productions & WhyNot Theatricals, opens with two eyes emerging from darkness and followed by the light of a flame.  We hope there will be many eyes emerging from the metaphorical darkness at the two screenings.  The producing team is grateful to have the film appear in St. Louis, after initial selections and screenings at several prestigious festivals – Santa Fe Film Festival (Jury Award), RiverRun International Film Festival, Harlem International Film Festival, the Footcandle Film Festival, the Richmond International Film Festival, and of course, last week’s Naples International Film Festival (Impact Award).

The critical response to the film includes high praise – from “Vital and Relevant,” and “Seek this out,” to  “A passionate, blazing, and deeply enticing human drama.”  for more critics’ reviews, visit Rotten Tomatoes.

For more information on the screening, visit:

For more information on the film, visit:

Also, see a brief synopsis of the project below.

For more information on the St. Louis International Film Festival 2023, visit: https://www.cinemastlouis.org/sliff/festival-home

This email is being sent to you on a one-time-only basis from the Executive Producers of the film, with the intent of bringing this film to your attention.  We deeply appreciate your considering attending this event.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Thank you, 

Executive Producers Serena Ebhardt & David zum Brunnen, EbzB Productions

Producer Ayana Johnson, Gravel Films

The Problem of the Hero (synopsis) –

The story starts in March 1941, at the St. James Theatre in New York. On the eve of opening night, a difference of opinion over a single page of the script threatens an impasse between two literary giants of the 20th Century. As dress rehearsals led by the mercurial Orson Welles, continue around Richard Wright (renowned, controversial author of Native Son) and Paul Green (Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright & social justice advocate), the ensuing argument, delving deeply into race, class, patriotism, politics, and personal story & agency, seems destined to dissolve the writers’ genuine friendship.  The Problem of The Hero is based on EbzB’s stage play Native by Ian Finley, and upon Richard Wright’s own play, The Problem Of The Hero,  moving from the novel’s backdrop of 1930s Chicago and into the film’s backdrop of the United States on the precipice of entering World War II.