_Two Louisiana-shot films have gained major recognition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. “Beasts of the Southern Wild” which won the Sundance Institute Indian Paintbrush Producers Award, as wells as the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize tells a father-daughter story set in Mississippi. Despite its setting, the film was actually shot in the southernmost parts of Louisiana. Critics are raving about this movie, claiming that it’s multi-genre approach caters to almost every audience. The Atlantic writes,

    “Nothing that played during the first weekend this year wowed critics and audiences (and, reportedly, buyers) quite like “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” From first-time filmmaker Benh Zeitlin, the picture is a wholly original post-Katrina bayou fairytale: an amalgamation of iconic Cajun imagery, end-of-the-world allusions, roving monsters, and family drama”.

    This paper also said that film was a unique combination of “tree of Life” and “Treme”. The scenery and cinematography of the independent movie certainly added a great deal to its charm. At Southern Celebrity Gossip we like to think that it was the Louisiana beauty that helped capture the attention of Sony Pictures and Fox Searchlight, both of which are interested in picking up the movie for mass distribution.

    Locally filmed “Lay the Favorite” also sparked some interest at the Film Festival. This movie, which stars Bruce Willis and Catherine Zeta Jones was shot here in New Orleans as well as Las Vegas. In this picture, the characters border on the edges of serious drama, and side-splitting comedy as they gamble their way through New Orleans. Both “Lay the Favorite” and “Beasts of the Southern Wild” well represented the Hollywood South and have given more attention to the incredible filming opportunities here in Louisiana.

For more about these films, and others at the Sundance Film Festival, visit their official website.