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Oct 19, 2024

New Orleans Film Festival: A Guide To The Soul of Cinema

Bringing an eclectic and passionate collection of films and filmmakers to our city, the New Orleans Film Festival (NOFF) has truly become a spectacle year after year. Throwing a spotlight on an

Bringing an eclectic and passionate collection of films and filmmakers to our city, the New Orleans Film Festival (NOFF) has truly become a spectacle year after year. Throwing a spotlight on an ever-abundant batch of films ranging from the most humble short film to a potential front-runner for Best Picture in 2025 (looking at you “Nickel Boys”), the NOFF has a little bit of flavor for every cinematic palette; highlighting subjects ranging from Louisiana environmental restoration efforts, LGBTQ+ joys and struggles, and especially the work of local filmmakers and artists. The NOFF represents the best that film festivals offer, the chance for nuance in artistry and for audiences to bear witness to visions and stories you couldn’t find told at your local AMC. If anyone wonders where the soul of cinema is born, it is at places like the New Orleans Film Festival.

For those looking to venture into uncommon artistic corners this weekend, allow me the chance to preview just a few films that have caught my eye.

A gorgeous Western that traverses the grand vistas, and crippling tragedies, that defined a burgeoning America, “Eastern Western” holds a complicated relationship with the concept of ambition. From filmmakers and NOFF alums Biliana & Marina Grozdanova, the film centers around a young widower and immigrant (Igor Galijasevic), living alone in a snowy cabin with his toddler son, who is coerced into joining the wagon train of a local rancher (Duncan Vezain), a pilgrim at heart with his eyes set on making his mark on the great “untamed” wilderness out West. That journey is treacherous, plagued by the harsh and beautiful realities of nature alongside the savagery of man, with chaos and wonder in equal measure. In the film’s final frames, our perception of whose story this was is warped; recontextualizing the previous events into a new light. What the film finds in its end moments is a measure of peace, not in conquest but in calm. A peace we might hope our pilgrims, and even ourselves, are able to one day find solace in.

Heralding from filmmaker Rungano Nyoni, “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” made a major splash at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, with Nyoni being awarded the Un Certain Regard Best Director Award. Following the aftermath of a young Zambian woman stumbling upon the body of her abusive Uncle; this surreal film roars with a rage befitting its title character and, by all accounts, makes mincemeat of your preconceptions of a “you can’t go home again” story.

A long thought-dead project recently resuscitated for modern audiences, Daniel Klein’s “Taste The Revolution” is a mockumentary that follows the story of a charismatic, revolutionary leader who inspires a young generation without understanding what comes after the revolt. Completed but shelved after 9/11, the film is finally premiering at the New Orleans Film Festival. With a fiery performance by Academy Award Winner Mahershala Ali, in his first-ever starring role, this is the kind of film these festivals are made for; revitalizing the past for a new and bolder future.

Telling the story you don’t know about a blue dog that you assuredly do, “Blue – The Life And Art Of George Rodrigue” gives a splash of context and color to one of the most famous cajun artists of all time. Traversing a centuries-long story from his ancestry of exiled ancestors, through early struggles and successes, before culminating in perseverance through Katrina and a terminal cancer diagnosis, the film is a testament to the enduring power of art and features interviews with family, curators, critics, collectors, and notable subjects and admirers, including Emeril Lagasse, Drew Brees, James Carville, James Michalopoulos and Marc Morial.

Spotlighting the eclectic cabaret, burlesque, and drag culture that New Orleans is known for the world over, “I Love You, AllWays” tells the story of the AllWays Lounge, home to a close-knit community of NOLA performance artists. Set during the tumultuous times in 2021 when the world was unsure what lay next for venturing out our front doors, let alone into a performance space, the film highlights the ingenuity and unrelenting passion of a colorful cast of drag queens and burlesque dancers to keep The AllWays Lounge alive. A needed spotlight on the lifeblood that makes New Orleans beautiful, “I Love You, AllWays” is as Louisiana-made as it gets.

Filmed in Louisiana and already building a critical head of steam that should pay dividends come awards season, RaMell Ross’s “Nickel Boys”, based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2019 novel about two Black teenagers who become wards of a barbaric juvenile reformatory in Jim Crow–era Florida, is the closing night film of this year’s NOFF. From all accounts, a towering achievement in craft and story, this is one film you don’t want to miss and certainly one that you should see as soon as possible.

These films are just a small sample of what the New Orleans Film Festival has for audiences this year but there is so much more to discover. So join us for a film or two and learn firsthand the joy of discovering art that is bold, daring, and new.

You’ll be glad you did.

To learn more, and get tickets for NOFF screenings, please visit neworleansfilmsociety.org/passes-tickets.

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