After the initial announcement that potential Oscar heavyweights Green Book and Widows would highlight the 2018 New Orleans Film Festival, the New Orleans Film Society announced today that several new critically acclaimed movies have been added, including the follow-up film by Moonlight director Barry Jenkins.
If Beale Street Could Talk is Moonlight director Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel of the same name. It tells the story of a newly engaged woman in early 1970s Harlem out to clear the name of her fiancé, who has been falsely accused of rape. The film earned the first runner-up prize for the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival.
The second runner-up prize at Toronto went to Oscar-winner Alfonso Cuaron’s (Gravity) black-and-white film Roma, about a family in politically tumultuous Mexico City in the early 1970s. It has been selected as Mexico’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Academy Awards. Netflix bought the rights to Roma and it is as of yet uncertain as to whether or not it will receive a true theatrical release. So, if you are a theatrical purist like me, the film fest’s screening at the Prytania might be your only chance to see it on the big screen.
Another new film added to the lineup is Boy Erased, directed by Joel Edgerton (The Gift). The movie focuses on the homosexual son of a Baptist preacher in a small Southern town who is forced to undergo conversation therapy when his parents learn of his sexual orientation. Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) co-stars with Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe.
Pass holders and New Orleans Film Society members are now able to reserve tickets online, and tickets will be available to the general public on October 3rd. For more information, visit the website at NewOrleansFilmFestival.org.
