The Gleaners and I with the St. Louis International Film Festival

The Farrell Auditorium at the Saint Louis Art Museum is screening The Gleaners and I on Saturday, November 7, from 2:00 to 3:30 PM. It's part of Cinema St. Louis's 35th annual St. Louis International Film Festival, so if you've been keeping an eye on the SLIFF lineup, this is one of the afternoon slots.

The Gleaners and I is a 2000 documentary by Agnès Varda. The whole thing started when Varda, then in her seventies, came across Jean-François Millet's 1867 painting The Gleaners, which depicts peasant women gathering the leftover grain after a harvest. That one image sent her across the French countryside following people who scavenge—people who make a living, or just get by, on what others leave behind.

She takes in everything: surplus from the fields, rubbish from trashcans, and oysters washed up after a storm. Her gleaners range from those in genuine need to those hoping to recreate the community activity of centuries past, and others who use what they find to cobble together a rough sort of art. The film is carried by Varda's own amusing narration, and it runs about an hour and 22 minutes.

It's not rated, so it's a safe bet for a Saturday afternoon. The screening is free, and it's held at the museum, 1 Fine Arts Drive, so you can easily pair it with a walk through the galleries. The film runs from 2:00 to 3:30 PM.