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. Filmmaker Andrew Garrison follows Orr as she joins city sanitation workers on their daily routes to listen, learn, and ultimately to convince them to collaborate in a unique dance performance. Hard working, often carrying a second job, their lives are already full with work, family and dreams of their own. But some step forward and, after months of rehearsal, two dozen trash collectors and their trucks perform an extraordinary spectacle. On an abandoned airport runway, thousands of people show up to see how in the world a garbage truck can “dance.” At the Prytania Theatre.SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14 – I LOVE LOUISIANA DAY: TWO FREE Sunday Screenings at Ashé Cultural Arts Center
Brooklyn Boheme (Dir. Nelson George and Diane Paragas) – 4:00 p.m. Hosted by DJ Soul Sister Brooklyn Boheme looks at back at the 1980s and ‘90s in Brooklyn‘s Fort Greene and Clinton Hill neighborhoods where a community of young black and Latino creatives thrived. Spike Lee, Chris Rock, Rosie Perez, Saul Williams, Lorna Simpson, Mos Def, Vernon Reid and Toure are among the many artists profiled in the film. DJ Soul Sister to host a post-film conversation with director Nelson George and other guests after the screening. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.Rebirth of a Nation (Dir. Paul D. Miller AKA DJ Spooky) – 6:30 p.m.
Nearly one hundred years after the release of D.W. Griffith‘s epic The Birth of a Nation, performance artist and musician Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, has applied a ―DJ mix‖ to one of the most revered and reviled films ever made. Miller‘s reading of the overt racism depicted in a Reconstruction-era South hurtles Griffith‘s images into the twenty-first century, a sociopolitical landscape that has evolved beyond all expectations. Originally commissioned as a live multimedia performance, this theatrical version features an original score by Miller, performed by Kronos Quartet. DJ Spooky scheduled to attend for Q+A. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.MONDAY, OCTOBER 15
Monday Spotlight Film – 5:30 p.m. Gimme the Loot (Dir. Adam Leon) This film took home the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW earlier this year.
Malcolm and Sofia, two determined teens from the Bronx, are the ultimate graffiti-writers. When a rival gang buffs their latest masterpiece, they must hatch a plan to get revenge by tagging an iconic NYC landmark, but they need to raise $500 to pull off their spectacular scheme. Over the course of two whirlwind, sun-soaked summer days, Malcolm and Sofia travel on an epic urban adventure involving black market spray cans, illicit bodegas, stolen sneakers, a high wire heist, and a beautiful, rich girl‘s necklace that is literally their key to becoming the biggest writers in the City. At the Prytania Theatre.TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16
Tuesday Spotlight Film – noon La Grande Illusion (Grand Illusion – Dir. Jean Renoir) Jean Renoir‘s classic 1937 French war film, now in a beautiful 4K rerelease from Rialto Pictures. At the Prytania Theatre.WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17
Wednesday Spotlight Film – noon Francine (Dir. Melanie Shatzky and Brian M. Cassidy)
Academy Award winner Melissa Leo gives a fierce and restrained performance as Francine, a woman struggling to find her place in a downtrodden lakeside town after leaving behind a life in prison. Taking a series of jobs working with animals, Francine turns away others and instead seeks intimacy in the most unlikely of places. Gritty, elliptical, and voyeuristic, Francine is a portrait of a near-silent misfit and her fragile first steps in an unfamiliar world. At the Prytania Theatre.THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18
Thursday Spotlight Film – FRENCH LANGUAGE FILM – noon All Together (Dir. Stephane Robelin) Jane Fonda returns to the French screen after four decades in this film about an experiment in alternative living. Sponsored by the French Consulate of New Orleans. At the Prytania Theatre.Closing Night Film – 7:30 p.m. The Sessions (Dir. Ben Lewin) John Hawkes plays Mark O‘Brien, a paralyzed man who hires a sex surrogate (Helen Hunt) so that he can finally lose his virginity. Winner of the Audience Award for US Dramatic Feature at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. At the Prytania Theatre.
