New Orleans Film Festival Adds Major New Films to Lineup

16:00 September 27, 2019
By: Fritz Esker

In the past week, the New Orleans Film Festival announced several exciting additions to its lineup, including Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story (starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson) as the opening night film.

Baumbach's dramatic comedy garnered high praise at the Toronto International Film Festival. There's talk of Oscar nominations for the film, and last year's opening night entry at the New Orleans Film Fest (Green Book) took home the Oscar for Best Picture, so time will tell if Marriage Story makes it two in a row. Marriage Story will air on Netflix and, as usual for Netflix movies, theatrical distribution will likely be extremely and unfortunately limited, so moviegoers will want to seize the opportunity to see this on the big screen at the Orpheum on Oct. 16th.


Marriage Story is just one of two films starring Scarlett Johansson at this year's festival. The other is Jojo Rabbit, an "anti-hate satire" directed by Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, What We Do in the Shadows). Waititi's film tells the story of a young boy in Nazi Germany who learns his mother (Johansson) has been secretly hiding a Jewish girl in their home. Attendees can catch the film at the Prytania on the night of Oct. 17th.

Friday, October 18th, will see the screening of one of the festival's centerpiece films, Waves. Trey Edward Schults' film, which has been dubbed an Oscar contender, traces the emotional journey of a suburban African-American family in South Florida. Sterling K. Brown (Black Panther, This Is Us) stars. The screening will take place at The Ranch Theater at the CAC at 6:45.

On Sunday afternoon, October 20th, cinephile Saints fans (surely I can't be the only one) will face a dilemma as Netflix's The Two Popes will screen at the Prytania at roughly the same time (4:30) the Saints will be facing off against the Bears. Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce play, respectively, Pope Benedict and Pope Francis in a movie that centers on the friendship of those two very different men.

On Tuesday night, October 22nd, the Prytania will host an 8 p.m. screening of Edward Norton's Motherless Brooklyn, the story of a detective with Tourette's Syndrome (Norton) trying to solve the murder of his mentor (Bruce Willis) in 1950s New York City.

Knives Out, starring Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more, is a modern update of Agatha Christie whodunits. Rian Johnson, who filmed the excellent Looper in New Orleans before helming Star Wars: The Last Jedi, wrote and directed the film. It will be playing Wednesday, October 23 at 7 the Prytania.

Ford vs. Ferrari is directed by James Mangold (Logan, Walk the Line) and tells the true story of Ford's attempts to build a car that could beat a Ferrari in a race. Christian Bale plays the Ford driver and Matt Damon plays the lead designer. It plays Saturday, October 19 at 8 at the Prytania.

Just Mercy is a courtroom drama about a young lawyer (Michael B. Jordan) fighting to get a man (Jamie Foxx) off death row. Writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton made the underrated Short Term 12 in 2013. Just Mercy will be playing Tuesday, October 22 at 5 at the Prytania.

Tickets are on sale now. The complete list of screenings and the events calendar is available online at NewOrleansFilmFestival.org. Tickets and passes can be purchased there as well.

Sign Up!

FOR THE INSIDE SCOOP ON DINING, MUSIC, ENTERTAINMENT, THE ARTS & MORE!