Stacy Head, right, beams at her aide, Barbara-Lacen Keller, in a scene from “Getting Back to Abnormal.” (courtesy of The Center for New American Media)
“Getting Back to Abnormal” — the documentary screening three times as part of the upcoming filmOrama festival at the Prytania Theatre — was never intended to focus on City Councilwoman Stacy Head. But Head’s controversial role in the post-Katrina political landscape of New Orleans combined with her unusual on-screen candor made her and staffer Barbara Lacen-Keller natural subjects for it, the filmmakers said.
“The fact that they let us film them was really good,” said Louis Alvarez, one of the four producer/directors. “A lot of politicians wouldn’t allow that.”
The film’s opening thesis is that in 2010, as Head approached her first re-election campaign, she had become “a lightning rod for all things racial,” and it does not shy away from many of her most controversial moments. Yet, in a phone interview Wednesday morning, Head said she has seen the film and was pleased with its outcome.
“I thought it showed the good, the bad and the ugly about New Orleans and politics and who I am,” Head said. “I don’t take myself too seriously, so I liked it.” Continue reading »
After a successful launch of the Irish Film Festival at the Prytania Theatre last fall, its organizers will return Wednesday for a one-night-only showing of the 1991 film “Hear My Song” accompanied by pints of Guinness and Smithwick’s. 
Cult classic “The Room” Live with writer/director Tommy Wiseau and actor Greg Sestero will run back-to-back shows at Prytania Theatre both Friday (Jan. 18) and Saturday (Jan. 19).
A white Christmas is planned this weekend at the Prytania Theatre, with family movies on the big screen, hot chocolate and cookies and crafts activities for kids at an all-day holiday event Saturday (Dec. 15).
A single-night photo and film exhibit Friday evening will focus on a remote region of Indonesia where a team of health care workers treated over 1,000 people this summer.
Rene Brunet and Jack Stewart will release their book “There’s One In Your Neighborhood: The Lost Movie Theaters of New Orleans” at a party showcasing old film reels on the Prytania Theatre’s screen (Nov. 1, 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.).
The city’s weekly “Movies in the Park” series will show “Iron Man” at 7 p.m. Friday (Oct. 26) at Conrad Park in Hollygrove.
Starting with a gala screening of “probably the most popular Irish film in history” Friday night, and continuing Saturday and Sunday with acclaimed dramas and even an Oscar-nominated animated feature, the Prytania Theatre will host the inaugural New Orleans Irish Film Festival all weekend.
Big-budget superheroes, computer-animated cartoons and even a few family classics are among the selections for this fall’s “Movies in the Park” series in Uptown parks. 
