Patois New Orleans Human Rights Film Festival Announces 2023 Film Lineup
The Broad Theater and The Broadside will once again host live screenings and talks to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the film festival. Film subjects will range from Indigenous midwifery to communities fighting climate change on the front lines in Louisiana.
The films scheduled for the Patois New Orleans Human Rights Film Festival's 2023 event, which is scheduled to take place from Thursday, March 23 through Sunday, March 26, are now available for viewing. The Broad Theater is located at 636 N. Broad St and The Broadside at 600 N. Broad St.
The Broad Theater and The Broadside will host live screenings and panels. will consist of in-person programming, live talks and panels, and performances. The whole list of movies is shown below.
Films at the 2023 Patois New Orleans Human Rights Film Festival
Thursday, March 23
The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales
Directed by Abigail Disney and Kathleen Hughes, 1 hour 27 minutes
Abigail Disney looks at America's dysfunctional and unequal economy and asks why the American Dream has worked for the wealthy, yet is a nightmare for people born with less. As a way to imagine a more equitable future, Disney uses her family's story to explore how this systemic injustice took hold. Panel discussion with Director Abigail Disney and local labor organizers to follow screening.
Premieres at 6:45 PM at The Broad Theater
Friday, March 24
Give Light: Stories from Indigenous Midwives
Directed by Steph Smith, 55 minutes
In penetrating interviews, nine indigenous midwives from five continents discuss the benefits and challenges to their profession. Give Light examines traditional midwifery, juxtaposed with modern obstetrics to bridge the gap between traditional wisdom and modern technology. Panel discussion with local doula collective and Indigenous organizers to follow screening.
Premieres at 7:00 PM at The Broad Theater
Louisiana Climate Justice Screening & Benefit Concert
Between March 18th and the 25th, Louisiana for a Green New Deal will host a Week of Action as part of Stop the Money Pipeline's national Shareholder Showdown campaign. As part of this week of action, and in partnership with Healthy Gulf, Louisiana Just Recovery Network, and Frontline Media Network, the Patois Film Festival will screen three short films amplifying frontline climate crisis issues and end the night with local musical acts. Funds raised will go towards the Louisiana Just Recovery Network. Panel discussion with frontline residents to follow screening.
Premieres at 9:00 PM at The Broadside
Saturday, March 25
Camille Billops and James Hatch Retrospective
Suzanne, Suzanne
Directed by Camille Billops and James Hatch, 25 minutes
One of the many films that Camille Billops and James Hatch made centering on Billops's family, Suzanne, Suzanne presents a devastating portrait of the artist's niece, haunted by the abuse she suffered as a child and the passivity of the family members who allowed it to continue.
Finding Christa
Directed by Camille Billops and James Hatch, 55 minutes
This startlingly personal documentary presents a moving yet unsentimental view of motherhood and adoption. It explores the feelings surrounding the reunion of a young woman with her birth mother twenty years after being given up for adoption. The reunion is between filmmaker Camille Billops and her own daughter, Christa. Facing the re-encounter with mixed emotions, Billops interrogates her family and friends as well as her own motivations. The result is an original and daring work that challenges social biases about adoption and offers new insight into mother-daughter relationships. Panel discussion with performance artist Kai Barrow and Director Ada Gay Griffin to follow screening.
Premieres at 4:00 PM at The Broad Theater
Angola, Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison + End Plantation Prisons Screenings
Angola, Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison
Directed by Cinque Northern, 27 minutes
Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison tells the story of playwright Liza Jessie Peterson's 2020 performance of her acclaimed play The Peculiar Patriot at Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary, America's largest prison.
End Plantation Prisons
Presented by the Promise of Justice Initiative
Louisiana has forced incarcerated people to work for more than 300 years. Today, nearly 30,000 people in LA are serving hard labor sentences and are forced to work. Hear the stories of people directly impacted as part of the Promise of Justice Initiative video project. Panel discussion with formerly incarcerated people and organizers working to end prisons to follow screening. Premieres at 6:30 PM at The Broad Theater
100 Ways To Cross The Border
Directed by Amber Bemark, 84 minutes
100 Ways to Cross the Border is a performative and hybrid documentary film about a 40-year career of radical artistic practice. The prolific Mexican/Chicano performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña enacts his interventions by "queering the border-" claiming all borders as queer and liminal spaces. Panel discussion with local immigration justice activists and performance artists to follow screening.
Premieres at 9:00 PM at The Broad Theater
Sunday, March 26
Let the Little Light Shine
Directed by Ken Shaw, 82 minutes
Parents and students at a top-ranked African American elementary school fight to save the institution after it's threatened with replacement by a school favoring wealthy families. Panel discussion with local education/youth justice organizations and organizers to follow.
Premieres at 4:30 PM at The Broad Theater
Patois Shorts Program
- Brilliant short films from Detroit to Palestine to New Orleans:
- Night - Directed by Ahmad Saleh, 16 minutes
- Siri Miri - Directed by Luay Awwad, 5 minutes
- The Funnel - Directed by Charlene Carruthers, 17 minutes
- Street Pulse Beat - Directed by Allí Logout & Juicebox Burton, 8 minutes
- Take Your Bags - Directed by Camille Billops, 11 minutes
- Hush - Samar Qupty, 18 minutes
- Freshwater - Directed by dream hampton, 11 minutes
Premieres at 7:00 PM at The Broad Theater
Visitors to the festival can buy a festival pass for $50 ($40 for Patois members) or individual screening tickets for $12 ($8 for Patois members) here.
Programming for the Patois New Orleans Human Rights Film Festival is done by the collective's Jordan Flaherty, Jason Foster, jazz Franklin, Shana M. griffin, Emily Ratner, and Zaferhan Yumru. The Threshold Foundation, Antenna/Paper Machine, Gallery of the Streets, New Orleans Film Society, PUNCTUATE, The Broad Theater, WBOK, and WHIV are just a few of the groups and partners who help out with the Patois New Orleans Human Rights Film Festival.
For more information regarding the event, visit patoisfilmfest.org/patois2023 or Chloe Dewberry, on behalf of the Patois New Orleans Human Rights Film Festival, 248-376-7657, chloe.dewberry@gmail.com.
