Witness the French Language in NOLA
The 27th annual New Orleans French Film
Festival, presented by the New Orleans Film Society (NOFS), will be held at the
historic Prytania Theatre from February 22-28, as well as streaming virtual
February 22 to March 3, 2024.
This year the festival will spotlight
special screenings of two newly restored films from Louisiana filmmaker Glen
Pitre. Entirely in Cajun French, the films are $8.50 a Barrel (Huit
Piastres et Demie!) and Yellow Fever (La Fievre Jaune).
Following their release in the late 1970s, film critic Roger Ebert described
Pitre as "a legendary American regional director, a shrimper's son who
graduated from Harvard and went back home to Louisiana to make movies. His
early films were shot in the Cajun dialect. [He is] arguably the world's only
Cajun-language filmmaker."
Both films look at historical events in
Louisiana's history: the shrimp war of 1938 and the yellow fever epidemic in
the state in 1897. The new 4K restoration of these films was led by
IndieCollect and created with the support of the Golden Globe Foundation. Pitre
will take part in conversations following screenings of each of the two
restored films.
Additionally, the festival will host
the world premiere of Louisiana-based directors Chasah West and Charliese
West's short film Heritage, made with support from the Nous Foundation.
Alums of the New Orleans Film Society's Emerging Voices Directors Lab, the West
sisters wrote and directed this story of a teenager, disinterested in her
Louisiana Creole heritage, who finds herself rethinking her own heritage after
an encounter with a French-speaking visitor.
The festival will also include a
showcase of the work of Johanna Makabi, a filmmaker of Senegalese and Congolese
heritage who is an artist-in-residence at Villa Albertine in Louisiana, a
program created by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and
supported by the French Ministry of Culture. The festival will host a screening
of four of Makabi's films and a conversation with her regarding her work and
cinematic approach.
The festival brings together 14
features alongside 10 short films all prominently featuring francophone
communities from around the world, in French with English subtitles. The films
were produced in Belgium, Canada, Democratic Republic of Congo, France,
Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, and the USA. Clint
Bowie, artistic director of the New Orleans Film Society, said, "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. 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 schedule will go live and
individual tickets go on sale to NOFS members on February 8 at 12 p.m. CST, and
individual tickets go on sale to the public on February 15 at 12 p.m. CST.
Visit neworleansfilmsociety.org/french-film-festival
to see the full lineup and to purchase festival passes. All pass types (All
Access Pass, Virtual Pass, and Student + Teacher Pass) are now available to
purchase!
