The New Orleans Film Society is proud to present the 23rd Annual New Orleans Film Festival, which takes place in various venues throughout the city from Oct. 11 to Oct. 18. This year's opening and closing fi lms were shot in Louisiana.
The Opening Night fi lm of the Festival will be The Paperboy, director Lee Daniels' follow up to his Oscar-winning Precious. The Paperboy was fi lmed on location in Louisiana and is being released by Louisiana-based Millennium Entertainment. The movie stars Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, Kevin Spacey, and Macy Gray. In the fi lm, a reporter returns to his Florida hometown to look into a case involving a death row inmate. The screening will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 11, at the Joy Theater. Opening Night is sponsored by Cineworks-Louisiana, Millennium Studios and Second Line Stages.
Closing the Festival on Oct. 18 will be two fi lms - The Sessions and The Iceman. The Sessions was the winner of a special jury award and an audience award at this year's Sundance Film Festival. It stars Helen Hunt and John Hawkes and is based on the true story of poet and journalist Mark O'Brien, a man in an iron lung who hires a professional sex surrogate to help him lose his virginity. It will screen at 7:30 p.m. at the Prytania Theatre.
Following the The Sessions will be The Iceman, a based on fact story of notorious contract killer and family man Richard Kuklinski. Michael Shannon, James Franco, Chris Evans, Benicio del Toro, and Winona Ryder star. The Iceman was partly fi lmed in Shreveport, La., and post-production took place at Cineworks- Louisiana. It will screen at 9:30 p.m. at the Prytania Theatre.
All-Access Passes are currently on sale on the New Orleans Film Society web site ($125 for NOFS members /$150 for nonmembers) and grant pass holder admission to all screenings and events during the festival. For opening night tickets, you can also now purchase a 6-fi lm pass deluxe ($50 for NOFS members /$60 for non-members). A 6-fi lm pass deluxe entitles the pass holder to one ticket for opening night and fi ve tickets for any screenings throughout the Festival. Until the day of the screening on Oct. 11, Opening night tickets are available ONLY to all-access pass holders and 6-fi lm deluxe pass holders. General admission tickets for opening night will go on sale at noon on Oct. 11 at the Joy Theater box offi ce. General admission for all other fi lm festival screenings (including closing night) are on sale currently. Visit neworleansfi lmsociety.org for more details.
