French Film Festival opens Thursday at the Prytania

The 2024 French Film Festival opens at the Prytania Theatre Uptown on Thursday (Feb. 22) and continues through Feb. 28.  Virtual streaming begins Thursday and continues through March 3. The festival lineup includes 24 narrative, documentary and short films produced in Belgium, Canada, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland and the U.S. as well as France. 

And close to home, the festival will spotlight special screenings of two newly restored films — entirely in Cajun French — from Louisiana filmmaker Glen Pitre. 

“Now in its 27th year, the French Film Festival continues to grow and evolve, and this year’s program fully encapsulates the diversity of French-language cinema from around the globe, including films made right here in Louisiana,” said Clint Bowie, artistic director of the New Orleans Film Society, in a press release. “It includes work from industry veterans like Claire Simon and François Ozon while also introducing audiences to new voices from directors like Baraka Rahmani and Chasah and Charliese West.” 

The opening night film will be The Crime is Mine (Mon Crime) by director François Ozon.

French Film Festival, ‘a mini Cannes,’ set to open at the Prytania Theatre

The annual New Orleans French Film Festival returns to the Prytania Theatre beginning Thursday, March 9, and running through Tuesday, March 13. For its 26th festival, the New Orleans Film Society will bring together 13 features and three short films from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the United States. All screenings will be held at the historic Prytania Theatre or the Prytania Theatres at Canal Place. Part of the lineup will also be available to stream online here from March 9 to March 19. The films will all be shown in their original French or Kouri-Vini (Louisiana Creole) language with English subtitles.

Prytania Theatre reopens after hurricane repairs and renovations

After Hurricane Ida’s damages prompted a six-month closure, the Prytania Theatre, 5339 Prytania St., reopened last week. The theater has returned to its daily showings of current and classic films.

Hurricane Ida took out “a big chunk” of the roof, so the building had significant water damage, Prytania owner Robert Brunet said. “We had to do a lot of demo and cleaning,” he said. 

Brunet restored the theater to its pre-storm condition and added updates with a few special touches. However, he said, he kept the classic, familiar feel of the theater that fans have come to appreciate. “The theater is 110 years old, and we wanted it to still feel that way,” he said.

Middle school filmmakers at Audubon Charter enjoy their long-awaited premiere

 

Audubon Charter School’s very first film festival was scheduled for March 14, 2020. That was five days after the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Louisiana, and it would be over a year before the middle school students — who wrote, acted in and helped to shoot the movies —  would be able to show off the products of their hard work. Out of the glare of the May morning sun, in the cool Prytania Theatre, Stephanie Knapp, an Audubon parent and teacher who led Audubon Charter students through the process of making movies together, took the stage. The students and their supporters — parents, family and friends — were masked and spread out in the theater, with alternating rows taped off to allow for sufficient social distancing. “It’s interesting to see how everything is changed, how everything is different … and everything is still kinda the same,” Knapp said.

Prytania Theatre seeks to serve alcohol during showtimes

The Prytania Theatre may be a single-screen movie house in a multiplex world, but there is one movie-house trend it does want to join: serving alcohol. The treasured Uptown institution got one step closer to that goal this week with approval from the City Planning Commission of a zoning change that could allow the theater to add adult beverages to its menu of drinks and snacks. “The Prytania is a single-screen movie theater, which is practically non-existent in the United States,” theater operator Robert Brunet told the commission on Tuesday. “It’s one of the only in Louisiana and the only New Orleans. We are looking to serve alcohol so that we can be competitive with every other theater in the metropolitan area.”

Uptown Weekend: French Film Festival, ‘Vagina Monologues’

During the last weekend before parades take over Uptown streets, there’s still plenty to do without leaving the neighborhood. To name a few: You can take in a French movie at the Prytania or a play at the Ashe Cultural Arts Center. French Film Festival

The 22nd New Orleans French Film Festival, one of the longest running foreign language festivals in the country, showcases contemporary and classic francophone Cinema for audiences of about 4,000 at the Prytania Theatre, 5339 Prytania St., the oldest single-screen movie house operating in Louisiana. Live music and lectures will accompany a curated selection of French, French language films and a program of short films.

Je ne parle pas Française, you say? Don’t worry; all films are screened with English subtitles.

Prytania Theatre to host 22nd annual New Orleans French Film Festival

The New Orleans Film Society (NOFS) announced that the 22nd annual New Orleans French Film Festival will be held from February 15 to 21, 2019, at the historical Prytania Theatre. Last year, the festival reached a record audience of about 4000 attendees, and NOFS expects the festival to grow even more next year. The 22nd French Film Festival will showcase excellence in contemporary and classic French-language cinema from France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland and other French-speaking countries and regions. Live music and lectures will accompany a curated selection of French and French language feature films and a program of short films. Prior to the opening night film, there will be a champagne toast for a dedicated audience of Francophiles, cinephiles, sponsors, and patrons at a private residence near Prytania Theatre. The 22nd French Film Festival passes are on Holiday Sale with a discounted price now until January 2.

Comedy festival opens with “The Time Raptor” at Prytania Theatre

Tired of that boring old election? Prefer time-traveling dinosaurs? You’re in luck — the annual Hell Yes Fest opens Tuesday (Nov. 6) with the world premiere of “The Time-Raptor” at Prytania Theatre. For details, see the press release from the festival:

HELL YES FEST ADDS FILM:
THE TIME-RAPTOR WORLD PREMIERE & STUDIO 8 RETROSPECTIVE
November 6th,
10:00p @ Prytania Theater

In 2013 Hell Yes Fest expands to include New Orleans’ first film festival devoted to comedy.

Prytania owner celebrates release of book on historic New Orleans theaters with party, nostalgic screenings

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.). For more information see the following description from the event’s Facebook page:

Book Release and New Orleans Nostalgia Movie Night

THERE’S ONE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD—
THE LOST MOVIE THEATERS OF NEW ORLEANS
by Rene Brunet & Jack Stewart

Autographed copies available for purchase at the Prytania

Prytania Theater owner Rene Brunet, at age 91, has teamed up with urbanologist Jack Stewart and New Orleans book publisher Arthur Hardy to produce a 160-page coffee table book that chronicles more than 100 lost movie theaters in metro New Orleans. The evening will include book signings, Q&A with the authors, 1940s newsreels, New Orleans travelogues, 1950s cartoons, and a special showing of The Wacky World of Dr. Morgus (1962).

New Orleans Film Festival brings filmmakers to Prytania, O.C. Haley

The Prytania Theatre and the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center and the Ashe Cultural Arts Center on O.C. Haley Boulevard are once again among the venues in the New Orleans Film Festival, which opens Thursday night and continues for the following week. More than 200 films will screen throughout the week around New Orleans, according to the festival website. Below, find some highlights at Uptown venues selected by the festival organizers:

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12
Friday Spotlight Film – 1:30 p.m. Trash Dance (Dir. Andrew Garrison) Sometimes inspiration can be found in unexpected places. Choreographer Allison Orr finds beauty and grace in garbage trucks, and in the men and women who pick up our trash.