The first annual 3rd Street Film Festival will be a spectacular one night event where we showcase Louisiana's talented independent filmmakers to the general public. The 3rd Street Film Festival was created to encourage, foster, and promote Louisiana filmmakers by providing a public venue to showcase their artistry.
The 3rd Street Film Festival will help strengthen the foundation of the Louisiana Film Industry, with hopes to propel Louisiana to the number one spot for total film productions in America. With Louisiana dubbed as Hollywood of the South, we are quickly earning its’ place as a top tier filming location. Louisiana is currently ranked 3rd in the nation for total number of film productions (Louisiana Entertainment Office, 2010)
The 3rd Street Film Festival will take place at the Manship Theatre at the Shaw Center for the Arts on the night of December 30th, 2011.
Please stay tuned at lafilmspot.com for updates sourunding the event.
The 1st Annual Louisiana Film Festival December 30th, 2011 Manship Theatre at the Shaw Center for the Arts The mission of the first annual Louisiana Film Festival is to encourage, foster, and promote Louisiana's talented independent filmmakers by providing a public venue to showcase their artistry. It is these artists who will a play a critical role in the future of Louisiana’s Film Industry. This festival will showcase the work of select talented Louisiana independent film makers. By encouraging Louisiana Filmmakers to continue in their fields, we will help build “experience that makes filming here even more attractive to the television and movie industry” (Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden, 2009.) The Louisiana Film Festival will help strengthen the foundation of the Louisiana Film Industry, with hopes to propel Louisiana to the number one spot for total film productions in America. With Louisiana dubbed as Hollywood of the South, we are quickly earning its' place as a top tier filming location. Louisiana is currently ranked 3rd in the nation for total number of film productions (Louisiana Entertainment Office, 2010) Continue reading at 225alive.com
Since the mid 2000’s, Louisiana has been dubbed “Hollywood of the South.” But filmmakers have long been fascinated with Louisiana. By 1898, the film industry recognized that Louisiana’s diverse landscape, history, architecture and culture provided a great backdrop for films.
Over the years, film studios expanded the use of Louisiana into every genre, time period and location imaginable. From swamps to plantations, metropolitan cities to western plains, and yes, even other planets.
Hollywood on the Bayou has documented over 1,000 films that were made in or about Louisiana. These include feature length films, made-for-tv movies, documentaries and shorts. It covers six specific time periods of Louisiana film history (1898-2010). After a brief narration, the films are listed by title, year, director and other information. An alphabetical listing by title follows.
Continue reading at 225alive.com
The New Orleans Film Society's Spring film festival, Film-O-Rama, kicks off this Wednesday, May 11 at St. Marie. There will be cocktails and trailers of the indie films set to be screened at the fest from 6-10pm at 930 Poydras Street in New Orleans.
 Werner Herzog's 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams' The lineup for the New Orleans Film Society's weeklong Film-O-Rama screening series is still developing, but it's already got a must-see title: the Werner Herzog documentary "Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3-D," which has been announced as the most recent edition to the agenda.It's the latest film from the director -- who splits his times between offbeat dramas such as the locally shot "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" and riveting documentaries like "Grizzy Man" and "Encounters at the End of the World" -- and judging by recent reviews of the film, it's a stunning achievement.
In it, Herzog gains unprecedented access to the Chauvet Cave in France, a subterranean system that was rediscovered in 1994 after having been closed off for 20,000 years by a rock slide. Entombed within was a collection of pristine cave paintings. For his film, Herzog visited the caves and took his 3-D cameras inside to document what he found.
"Now, we're not always a fan of the technology around here," Associated Press movie critic Christy Lemire wrote in her recent review of the film, "but not only is the 3-D NOT gimmicky, it actually enhances the viewing experience -- makes these images seem more tactile and immediate. 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams' immerses us in a space that's at once enormous and darkly cramped, full of shimmering crystal formations and scattered cave bear skulls."
As previously announced, Film-O-Rama will run from May 13-19 at the Prytania Theatre. So far, titles in the lineup include the French horror-comedy "Rubber," as well as director Xavier Dolan's "Heartbeats (Les amours imaginaires)" and Abbas Kiarostami's "Certified Copy."
A full lineup is expected within the next week or so.
Billed as "7 days of films you won't see anywhere else," Film-O-Rama is designed to showcase independent and foreign gems that haven't played a full release in New Orleans. This is its second year.
 Mardi Gras Indians documentary 'Bury the Hatchet' New Orleans filmmaker Aaron Walker has proven that he "won't bow down," as the Mardi Gras Indians say in his stirring new documentary "Bury the Hatchet" (read movie review) -- but, despite his tempered demeanor, Walker can be excused if he does a little jumping for joy.His film, examining New Orleans' Mardi Gras Indian culture -- a film that doesn't even have a distributor yet but which opened Friday (Aprill 22) for a weeklong run at the Chalmette Movies anyway -- has been collecting awards and positive notices since even beforehe finished it last fall.
First came a Grand Prize and Intangible Culture Award at England's Royal Anthropological Institute Festival of Ethnographic Film after a work-in-progress screening there in July 2009. In 2010, at October's New Orleans Film Festival, Walker was named Louisiana Filmmaker of the Year for the completed film.
And now, after being handed a slot at the prestigious Hot Docs documentary film festival, which unspools later this month in Toronto, one gets the feeling this promising little film could be on the verge of something big.
"I hope," Walker said this week. "I hope it's starting to roll and snowball. It got accepted in Hot Docs, and that's one of North America's most prestigious festivals. And literally the day after it was accepted, I was getting calls and emails from distribution agents, sales agents. A guy in France called me; he's got some festivals and he wanted to see a screener. You know, all these different other festivals -- instead of me bugging them, it was like 'Oh, send us a screener and we'll waive the fee.' "
But don't mistake all that to mean "Bury the Hatchet" is an overnight success story.
This is a film that took more than six years to make.
"I guess it was in '04," Walker said, recounting the origins of "Bury the Hatchet," which started as a 20-minute profile of Big Chief Monk Boudreaux of the Golden Eagles, whom Walker had met while working on a music video in which Boudreaux had a cameo.
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 The Louisiana Filmmakers Grant Fund Program is designed to support Louisiana's independent filmmakers, who are vital to the state's entertainment industry and the state's long-term goals for an indigenous entertainment industry.
An applicant may apply for the Louisiana Filmmakers Grant Fund Program by submitting the official application during the appropriate application period which falls between June 1 and July 1 or December 1 to January 1.
More information, including the official rules and FAQs, can be found on the Filmmakers Grant Program webpage.
 Last year, amid the spring doldrums that always seem to settle over movie theaters between the fall awards season and the summer blockbuster season, the New Orleans Film Society and thePrytania Theatre hatched "Film-O-Rama," a showcase for independent and foreign gems -- the kind we don't see enough of this time of year.
Not only was it a great idea -- bringing movies such as "Mother," "The Messenger" and "Art of the Steal" to town -- but it was enough of a success that they've decided to do it again this year, the Film Society has announced.
The full lineup has yet to be determined, but the dates for the 2011 Film-O-Rama are locked in: It will be May 13-19, according to John Desplas, the film society's artistic director, making for a seven-day run (one day shorter than last year's event).
So far, titles to be included in the 2011 Film-O-Rama are:
- "Heartbeats (Les amours imaginaires)," by French-Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan;
- "Certified Copy," by director Abbas Kiarostami and starring Juliette Binoche; and
- "Rubber," the French horror-comedy about a sentient tire named Robert that uses its psychic powers for evil purposes -- and the film I'm most looking forward to so far, based sheerly on its ballsiness.
All screenings will take place at the Prytania Theatre.
 Spike Lee covers the complexities of post-Katrina life If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise
3 stars, out of 4
(Unrated, 2010)
Spike Lee's follow-up to his HBO Hurricane Katrina documentary "When the Levees Broke" -- released to mark the storm's fifth anniversary -- is an often-depressing ride. But Lee is a talented filmmaker, and, despite his attraction to controversy, he does a solid job of capturing the complexities of post-Katrina life.
Read The Times-Picayune's coverage of the New Olreans premiere of "If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise."
DVD extras: Director's commentary, 60-minute featurette. Running time: 4 hours.
 Actor Dermot Mulroney directed 'Love Wedding Marriage' in New Orleans Last summer, actor Dermot Mulrony came to town to try his hand at directing, on the romantic comedy "Love Wedding Marriage." Today, audiences get their first taste of the film, as the first trailer hit the Internet.Starring Mandy Moore, Kellan Lutz, Jane Seymour and James Brolin, it's about a marriage counselor who is thrown for a loop when she finds out that her long-wedded parents have decided to divorce.
Cue the ill-advised scheme to reconcile them.
Shot partly under the local Voodoo Production Services banner, the film was picked up for distribution by IFC Films in February, with a limited release set for June 3.
Source: nola.com
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