Culled from international and local submissions alike, the 36th annual New Orleans Film Fest welcomes you to see the world anew. What better time than now to embrace the diversity of perspectives and stories offered within, including a multitude of queer narratives, confrontations of colonialism, and a vision of a prisonless future. We’ve rounded up our favorite picks to help you navigate over 150 selections. So grab your crew and make your call sheet in preparation for this year’s embarrassment of riches.
NARRATIVE FEATURES
Cowboy
Visually stunning with a cathartic storyline, this understated film (pictured above) starring, directed by, and co-produced by Nathan Grubbs showcases the best of the Louisiana film industry. In a fateful horse heist gone wrong, war veteran, small-time thief, and former rodeo cowboy Juno’s potential ticket out of crime instead sends him to an Angola-like prison, resulting in fateful consequences that will haunt him. As associates and enemies circle back into his life after parole, his quest to become a better man becomes entwined with the woman whose future he changed forever. Beautifully filmed and impeccably soundtracked, Juno’s journey takes him to familiar New Orleans locales, romanticizing Louisiana’s natural landscape and highlighting our unique equine culture. A classic tale of hope, healing, and redemption, Cowboy cracks open broken hearts and lets the sun shine in. —Terra Durio
Manas
Manas follows 13-year-old Tielle (Jamilli Correa) moving through her adolescence: attending school with her siblings, playing with her younger sister, and helping her pregnant mother with house chores. She’s been daydreaming about life beyond the waters surrounding her community ever since her older sister Claudia (who’s only ever mentioned, never seen on screen) found her way out. These moments of girlhood begin to fade away as Tielle matures. She begins to go on hunting trips with her father (Rômulo Braga) and her mother (Fátima Macedo) prepares her to work on the barges, like other maturing girls her age do. Director Marianna Brennand presents a portrait of indoctrination into a generational cycle of abuse and exploitation. While serious in theme, we see flashes of the innocence in girlhood, set in the quiet and tranquil beauty of the Brazilian Amazon. Tielle returns repeatedly to the river, and as her innocence washes away, she finds the courage to rebel against the currents that keep her from her dream. —Benry Fauna
Nobody Wants to Be Here, Nobody Wants to Leave
In an old motel, we make the acquaintance of the cynical owner Hazel (Tine Joustra). Some of the locals know of the service she provides: assistance in ending their life. In a strip club, we meet a dancer named Dystuney (Mabel Thomas) working to earn the funds to keep her Alzheimer’s-afflicted grandmother in a nursing home. Her boss, Juice (Keenan Pasqua), is a drug-addicted club owner who is under pressure from his father, the local grocery store and club owner (Brian Childers). With his philosophical bodyguard by his side, this grocer keeps his business affairs in order by any means necessary. The fates of these characters intertwine when a young woman seeks Hazel’s assistance at her motel, setting in motion a series of stress-inducing events. Featuring an inquiring man trying to piece it all together, director Cash Robinson shows the powerful and the self-righteous acting as if their choices don’t affect the people around them. But all choices have their consequences. As the film asks, “Our lives always become a part of others. So at the end of the day, this isn’t completely your life, is it?” —Benry Fauna
The Fisherman
When elder luddite Atta Oko meets a mouthy talking fish, his simple life is upended. Leaving his humble Ghanaian fishing village for a rollicking romp through Accra with his scaly new friend and some lovable associates, Atta is determined to get his own fishing boat and change his luck. Written and directed by Zoey Martinson, The Fisherman features a lively, colorful soundtrack, vivid cinematography, funny (at times cheesy) dialogue, and standout performances by a talented ensemble cast. Ghana’s first official selection at the Venice Film Festival, this award-winning modern fable addresses weighty topics including ageism and the deterioration of traditional culture, the insidious infiltration of new technological trends, and the rural exodus of younger generations to cities. The Fisherman is a crowd-pleasing, laughter-filled journey about chasing one’s dreams, embracing change, and learning to value what really matters in life. —Terra Durio
Tropical Park
Fanny (Lola Bosch) is surprised and dismayed to learn that her estranged, conservative brother, Frank (Ariel Texido) is taking her on her first driving lesson. As she is new to the United States, these Cuban siblings haven’t seen each other in years. Written and directed by Hansel Porras Garcia, Tropical Park weaves through unfolding revelations as they drive through Miami. We perch in the backseat like a third passenger, feeling the familiar tension of two siblings bickering, then witnessing them learn to hear each other—a meditation on how an exchange of grace and compassion can help us move forward together. —Benry Fauna
West of Greatness: The Story of the Westwego Muscle Boys
The Westbank (of the Mississippi River) creates the perfect backdrop for this quirky and experimental film directed by Jared Cliff LaReau. Part documentary, part fiction, part examination of bodybuilding, and part coming-of-age narrative, this film broadens our expectations with the expansive sights and sounds of what is lovingly referred to as the “Best Bank.” Locals will be thrilled to see the use of regional bodybuilders and their tales interspersed with the main story of two young men, Terry Bridgeway and Jerome Bettis Carmichael (played by Zachary Van Zandt and LaEric Moore, respectively) who are competing in a greatest gains competition in Westwego. A competition built by the filmmakers and endured by both bodybuilders and actors alike results in a film that asks what is fiction, what is fact, and what does it mean to reinvent all of it, even on the neglected bank of the river that’s often overshadowed by its flashier neighbor to the east. Enter West of Greatness, a mighty film in perfect form. —Megan Burns
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
Ancestral Artistry: The Influence of Africans & Creoles of Color on Louisiana Architecture
When people think of European colonization, especially in Louisiana, they often neglect to consider the extent to which the country as we know it is the creation of enslaved craftsmen. Ancestral Artistry sets the record straight. Starting with the premise that Louisiana architecture is as essential to the culture as the more prominent food and music, the film goes on to trace its African origins. In interviews with contemporary craftsmen carrying this legacy into the present—a master plasterer, master brick mason, master blacksmith, and others—Ancestral Artistry shows not only how important these artisans were and are to a place where the difficulty of mastery is compounded by the struggle to survive, but how much we lose when these traditions die out. To watch it is to feel fortunate to live in a world constructed by their craftsmanship, and that it remains an honored tradition. —Holly Devon
Drowned Land
We often think of the Trail of Tears as the final, tragic chapter of the story of an unfathomable relationship to ancestral land. But it was also a beginning—when the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and the Seminole were moved to Oklahoma, they built their connection to place all over again. In Drowned Land, Choctaw documentarian Colleen Thurston takes a close look at the current threat to her tribe and their land: the proposal to build a hydroelectric dam that would divert the Kiamichi River and flood the valley, without care for the Indigenous people (and multigenerational white Oklahomans) who live there. But the documentary isn’t a linear depiction of history threatening to repeat itself—Thurston tells the story whole. She talks about her Native grandfather, who worked for the Army Corps of Engineers when they flooded an inhabited valley for a reservoir with eyes wide open, and films an elderly white Oklahoman man remembering the sorrow of those forced to leave. “A lot of them just grieved themselves to death,” he says through tears. Wishing to avoid this fate for her community, Thurston and her fellow Choctaw matriarchs grow strong and unified in their fight for the river they know to be sacred, even as they remain fearful of the power of industry. But in Drowned Land, Thurston’s community is not just pushing back against the catastrophic destruction by industry, they are demonstrating what it means to love the river as a living being. For the rest of us, it is impossible to watch this beautiful film without resolving to do the same for the land and water that give us life. —Holly Devon
God As My Witness
This raw documentary exposes the horrific crimes of the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans and its many pedophilic priests. As survivors and families of suicide victims explicitly detail abuses suffered at the hands of the community’s most trusted men—in cars, hotels, classrooms, churches—the predators’ influence and prevalence in this particularly Catholic state becomes disturbingly clear. As lawyers, investigative journalists, and survivors share nauseating love letters, grooming patterns, and buried reports that were either ignored or turned back on victims, viewers realize how embedded this generations-long deception really is. The rampant bureaucratic corruption of New Orleans is well-documented, but in God As My Witness, audiences learn just how many political accomplices are involved in the church’s conveniently timed (and still ongoing) $40 million bankruptcy case. Full of substantiated rumors, blatant cover-ups, and the routinely abusive practices of the Catholic Archdiocese, the full extent of this multi-institutional conspiracy is finally—if only partially—revealed. —Terra Durio
In a Good Place Now: The Life & Music of Bobby Charles
In A Good Place Now chronicles the life and legacy of Bobby Charles, one of Louisiana’s great gifts to the art of songwriting. The Abbeville native’s catalogue of over 180 songs includes classics like “Walking To New Orleans” (Fats Domino), “But I Do” (Clarence “Frogman” Henry), and “See You Later, Alligator” (Bill Haley). Director-producer-editor David DuBos takes viewers along for Charles’ rocky journey, which includes exploits like being the only white artist to record on Chess Records, touring with Chuck Berry as a teenager, and participating in The Band’s infamous The Last Waltz concert. However, Charles, who passed in 2010, spent most of his post-Last Waltz life as a recluse who harbored a bad taste in his mouth from music business deals gone bad. While bits with actors re-enacting scenes of Charles’ yesteryears feels tacky, the documentary makes up for it when family members, friends, and close collaborators like Allen Toussaint and Dr. John open up about varying eras of Charles’ life, ranging from his youthful upbringing to his secretive final decades. In A Good Place Now argues for Charles’ legacy in the greater landscape of American music while also showing his regional significance to those around Louisiana, whether they be his contemporaries or younger artists still pulling inspiration from his body of work. —William Archambeault
Michalopoulos – The Art Of Celebration
James Michalopoulos is perhaps New Orleans’ most recognizable living painter, best known for his distortions of local architecture and bold depictions of local music icons. This documentary, directed by Sean O’Malley, considers how the affordable bohemian atmosphere of 1978 New Orleans allowed the then-fresh transplant Michalopoulos to hone his distinct style. While the painter now has his own gallery and has done multiple official posters for Jazz Fest, his humble beginnings in the city included doing portraits on Schwegmann’s bags for $2 and sleeping in a truck. In addition to showing the artist around New Orleans as he paints outdoors and reflects on his journey, the cameras follow him to his other adopted home of Cluny, France. In Cluny, Michalopoulos engages with a style of nature-centric landscape painting that differs significantly from the distorted architectural style he is associated with in New Orleans. Michalopoulos paints a full portrait of the artist that doesn’t just settle for the half of him seen around town. —William Archambeault
Move Ya Body: The Birth of House
Elegance Bratton’s documentary, drawn from interviews with the architects and early participants in the house music scene, tells stories of resistance, difference, community, betrayal, and queer Black joy on the dancefloor. Developed in Chicago, house music was linked to Vince Lawrence’s rise to recording artist and producer, and what would become his contested status as the developer of Trax Records alongside various collaborators. Move Ya Body examines the racist logic behind the Disco Demolition Night, where early radio shock-jock Steve Dahl encouraged people to destroy disco records. Professor madison moore of Brown University summarized disco as “the first time we saw democracy on the dancefloor,” as rock music dipped in the charts. Archival club footage and photos from clubs such as the Warehouse, which gave house its name and where DJ Frankie Knuckles had his residency, provide context. Jesse Saunders, DJ pioneer Darlene Jackson, DJs Celeste Alexander and Lori Branch, recording artist Byron Stingily, and others share illuminating stories in this deep dive documentary. The soundtrack features Roy Ayers, Captain Sky (who a teenaged Lawrence did a quick tour with), Taana Gardner, of course “Move Your Body” by Marshall Jefferson, as well as“On and On” (1984) by Lawrence and Saunders, a song that many consider as the first real house record, fulfilling Lawrence’s childhood goal to “make the music of the future.” —Veronica Cross
Piano Players
Piano Players offers a new take on a long-celebrated New Orleans music documentary. Stevenson Palfi’s original 1982 film Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together has long been heralded for putting local legends Allen Toussaint, Professor Longhair, and Tuts Washington into the same room to play together. In addition to a plethora of phenomenal performance footage, the film dives deep into the multi-generational pianists’ approaches, life stories, and connections to each other. In 2022, Palfi’s widow Polly Waring commissioned producer Robert F. Landau to digitally restore the original film. Piano Players, the resulting version that is screening at the New Orleans Film Fest, enhances the beloved classic by drawing upon unseen raw footage, a three-hour “lost” interview with Professor Longhair, and other archival resources. Now that all three of these keyboard masters have passed, Piano Players serves as an invaluable gateway into a different era of New Orleans’ musical legacy. —William Archambeault
Turnaround
Directed by David E. Osborne, Turnaround gives an historical account of New Orleans’ failing public schools prior to Katrina in 2005. The adoption of charter schools in the aftermath of Katrina is broken down as the takeover of New Orleans public schools by the state’s Recovery School District, which had already been set into motion in response to failing schools in the late ‘90s. Deteriorating buildings and a failure to meet the most basic state requirements were hallmarks of New Orleans public schools prior to 2005, and the need to provide structure for returning families after Katrina sparked what became a charter school boom. Charter schools went on to replace virtually all public schools, and this feature does not shy away from concerns the community voiced including systemic racism from the state as well as protests against Teach For America for displacing local teachers who could not return after the storm. —Megan Burns
What We Can Know about Edmond and Basile
Filmmaker Sascha Just’s mastery of form is on clear display in this documentary. The title of this subtle, expertly assembled inquiry into the lives of two contemporaneous Black Creole classical musicians from New Orleans is telling: When it comes to both brilliant New Orleans native sons, the scarcity of archival traces means there’s not too much we can know about Edmond Dédé and Basile Barès definitively. It is to Juste’s credit that she leans into the mystery—showing the racial motivations behind their erasure while also answering her own question in unexpected ways. The main characters of the film, besides the titular musical ghosts, are contemporary New Orleanians who answer to the challenge of resurrecting their music and search doggedly through the archives to find everything they can. There is a man who fixes old pianos, including those owned and distributed by Barès, and Oscar Rossignoli, the New Orleans piano virtuoso who performs Barès pieces at Sung Harbor. Going back and forth between the two men’s stories, the film introduces us to Dédé’s descendants, and a group of classical musicians performing one of his operas for the first time. Ultimately the film shows us that what we can know about Edmond and Basile is that they are loved and remembered for the music that triumphed, however narrowly, against the implacable systems contrived to hold them back. —Holly Devon
WTO/99
For four days at the end of 1999, members of the World Trade Organization representing 135 countries converged in Seattle to discuss its new round of “millennial” global trade negotiations at its Ministerial Conference. In response, numerous and diverse groups of activists united as a reportedly 40,000 person-strong coalition to protest the WTO’s policies that favored wealthy nations. WTO/99, directed by Ian Bell and edited by Alex Megaro and Bell, retells the days of protest in the streets until their conclusion, and connects how these citizens exercising their rights of assembly would inform later movements such as Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter. The documentary is drawn from the 400 hours of video, largely from independent videographers, that would later be digitized at the Moving Image Preservation of Puget Sound and archived at the Seattle Independent Media Center. Timeline footage is patchworked with news updates, interviews with protestors, and speakers. The absence of narration is a gift that centers you as a potential ally in the moment, decentralizing the experience. The material culture of the protest is creative and inspired—with Art and Revolution’s Giant Liberation Puppet leading, eco-conscious animal costumes, along with zines and flyers and camera cuts to Jello Biafra-fronted punk band The No WTO Combo—and it amplifies the peoples’ messages. The dénouement includes a post-WTO public hearing on December 14, 1999, where the Seattle police chief acknowledges their irresponsible use of force and the firefighters who refused to turn their hoses on protestors. —Veronica Cross
NARRATIVE SHORTS
Balada de un Inmigrante con Memoria
(Ballad of an Immigrant with Memory)
Dive into a bowl of menudo with Alberto (Omar Leyva) as he takes a journey through his past—seeing visions of his home but also the haunting revenants of immigrating to the U.S. Director Sergio Muñoz Esquer takes the audience through a surrealist maze of Alberto’s memories and his sense of home. He stumbles between visions of the church of his mother’s funeral, immigration agents demanding paperwork, the truck that took him across the border, and the dinner table with Mamá (Mercedes Hernández). The menudo is a difficult reminder of how far home feels and the forces that kept Alberto away, but also the connection to family and love. —Van Le
Cherry-Colored Funk
When Roberto Ferrari (Michael Tow) changed his name and decided to open an Italian ice shop, he thought he’d get a fresh start from conning and grifting. But when the people of his soured relationships come streaming into the shop demanding answers, money, and respect, the store’s cashier, Lily (Laura Hetherington), has to manage the deluge of angry people while trying not to get involved in Ferrari’s affairs. Fast, zesty, and hilarious, director Chelsie Pennello’s short reflects the high-energy and neon lights of this sleazy endeavor, tightly packaging a vision of life’s messiness and the small rewards that might make it all seem worth it. —Van Le
Cockroach
Director and actor Justice Singleton portrays Seven, a trans man who is saving up for top surgery and agrees to have sex for money with James (John Cameron Mitchell), a well-off political event planner. The night starts to go haywire after Seven meets a talking cockroach (voiced by CG “Siege” Taylor) who tries to guilt Seven out of placating James, and the two men end up spending the night hunting it down. Seven and James begin to soften toward each other as they talk through the intricacies and intersections of being queer in the South and what queer safety should feel like. Singleton’s short is a dialogue on how queer folks can cultivate human connection and avoid being put in boxes by confronting their most insecure inner voices with compassion and, sometimes, teamwork. —Van Le
Firewall
In this modern application of ancient Persian legend by director/screenwriter Bita Ghassemi, Ani (Ayla Farmand) anxiously awaits her father’s return to Texas from Iran. As political unrest there deepens, her beloved Baba Jan’s (Derek Downer) silence—unreachable due to an internet firewall—heightens Ani’s loneliness. Despite her mother’s (Nazanin Nour) loving attempts to spiritually reinforce their Iranian culture, Ani’s faith falters as mythological and political tyrants coil together in her mind. But when Baba Jan mysteriously returns, Ani’s anxieties flare up in a dramatic climax that pits faith against fear. In this rich cross-cultural tale, viewers are asked to hold onto hope in the face of uncertainty. Symbolic imagery and impactful audio production imbue Firewall with heart, and its dedication to the courageous people of Iran reminds us that conviction is a powerful weapon against oppression. —Terra Durio
her bones my body
In this on-the-nose short written and produced by Caitlin Hargraves and directed by Erika Miranda, new mom Evie (Caitlin Josephine Hargraves) struggles with the superficial expectations of motherhood imposed on her by society. Holding tightly to her protective, animalistic ties to baby Olive, she’s all wild eyes and bared teeth with family and friends. No one relates to Evie except possibly the audience, who watches as her instinctive reactions increasingly alienate her from everyone else. A fierce outburst prompts her to finally abandon the overbearing rituals of civility, and Evie escapes into the woods with her child—where, finally, things feel natural. —Terra Durio
In the Light of a Miracle
“He told me he was a serial killer and I always thought he was lying,” says our narrator Andre (Robin De’Sousa) while making out in a truck with Clint (Turner Wolffe). In the Light of a Miracle, directed by OJ Parker, follows these two characters as Clint embarks on a killing spree and Andre willingly tags along, wanting to be crucified. Cinematographer Lola Jett does a fantastic job—between red-hued bars, crisp Louisiana landscapes, and the interspersal of low resolution digital footage, the visuals create a palpably beautiful yet claustrophobic world. Some of the dialogue and attached delivery of it feels stilted, and while it does have student film energy, that’s because it is one. —Marisa Clogher
Not Today
In Christian Meola‘s Not Today, he explores themes of isolation and the hesitation to be vulnerable. Eric (Eric Ramos) witnesses a private moment of his friend Jaime (Jaime Leal) that no one was meant to see. Was this just an isolated incident, or is this a pattern that needs to be addressed? Startled by Jaime’s recent change in behavior, Eric questions his avoidance of their friend group and the various declined invitations to hang out. Potentially reading too far into what it could mean, Eric is unsure how to show his concern directly. Through Meola’s queer lens, we get a glimpse into the costs of upholding the masculine facade, and the delicate dance of communicating complex emotions in some male, heteronormative friendships. —Benry Fauna
Play Hard
Nate (Daniel “D Smoke” Farris) is a busy musician with a dedication to the craft and his process. When he meets a professional dancer named Yazmine (Alexis Floyd) at a recital he’s filling in for, Nate weighs a choice to either see her again or to stick to his creative process. Director Winter Dunn incorporates color, movement, and sound to create a performance that doesn’t need dialogue to convey the unspoken connection between Nate and Yazmine. Dunn tapped composer Ali Helnwein to accentuate Nate’s character and bridge the two artforms. Play Hard is a question to creatives about what choices to make when play becomes work and when work can get in the way of life. —Van Le
Sister Salad Days
“A life all my own, a life that’s mine / I go elsewhere all the time,” double-dutchers chant as protagonist Deborah (Imani Okwuosa) jumps in and whisks them to other realms, where together, they briefly escape reality. Stuck in her obstinate father’s house, Deborah lives under the domineering religious paradigm that crushed her sister Esther (Adetinpo Thomas). When pressured into marriage, she must choose between family obligation and her dreams for the future. With courage, conviction, and fiancé Elijah’s (Kennijah Martin) help, supernaturally gifted Deborah stays true to herself, molds her own path, and helps her family evolve during the process. Written and directed by Adesola Thomas, Sister Salad Days is a heartwarming tale of devotion, redemption, and faith that weaves together magical realism, beautiful cinematography, emotional dialogue, and memorable storytelling. —Terra Durio
Skin on Skin
In a brutal German meat-processing factory, with its cold nights, crying pigs, and the harsh men who labor there, we meet Jakob (Jonas Smulders) working security and overseeing the workers through cameras. He watches Boris (Jurij Drevensek) working in the slaughterhouse, unable to leave when his Bosnian passport is confiscated. Together, they share a brief reprieve from their oppression, as their silent and tender connection is juxtaposed with their unforgiving job site. Contrasting the cruel factory, director Simon Schneckenburger composes fleeting peeks of a sunrise along a country road, its light filtered through dewy windows, and the hushed, muted tones on chilly morning fields. Beautifully composing the quiet yearning of men finding comfort in one another, and the barriers that keep them apart, the film asks: How much is one willing to risk for a life beyond their personal hell? —Benry Fauna
Sister!
Tessa arrives like a whirlwind into the life of her high-strung, transfemme half-sister, James. Well, alleged half-sister, because Tessa (played by Tessa Belle) discovered James (Julia Wendt) through sperm donor records. After many ignored messages, she arrives on James’ Brooklyn doorstep ecstatic to connect with her newfound sibling. James has trust issues, but with some encouragement from their roommate Asha (Asha Ward), they are willing to spend one night with her. But because of Tessa’s chaotic-blonde energy, James attempts to steal her DNA to prove that she could be pulling a scam somehow—what else could she be looking for? Then again, through Tessa’s persistent need to discover her family, it might be time for James to embrace their connection as genuine sisterhood, which is possibly what they have both been looking for. Directed by John Onieal and written by the electric Belle and Wendt themselves, this short comedy proves that family can be formed in unexpected ways, even (or especially) a dysfunctional one. —Benry Fauna
Space to Breathe
In this Afrofuturist world, prisons have been abolished and their sites converted into homes, health care facilities, and drug treatment centers. Our main characters are adorned in greens, golds, pinks, and purples and the technology around them shows the audience that they are, indeed, in the future. This short’s structure is a clever one—a documentary-style film is shown to these characters, who have never known prisons, in order to teach them how abolitionists built their movement and why the restorative justice process is markedly more successful and fulfilling than a punitive one. These “archival” clips are where the film, directed by Juicebox P. Burton, is most effective. At the end, Sojo (Tanisha Jae Newton) turns to the camera and says “To you who are in the future watching this,” though it seems as though it’s really saying to you who are in the past, offering a light in what feels like an endless tunnel, reminding us that the light is a result of hard work. —Marisa Clogher
Teen Mary
Director-writer Ali Rosenthal brings Nazareth to life in this modern retelling of the Biblical story of Mary and Joseph with satirical finesse and crass humor. At 15, Mary (Isabella Tagliati) realizes she is pregnant after a night with Gabriel (Christian Vierling) and has to come up with a way to avoid being stoned for being an adulterer. She turns to her best friend Joseph (Tarek Ziad), who has been hooking up with Pontius (John Pope) and also fears persecution. They both decide to convince the town that they were chosen by God to deliver the Messiah. Suddenly famous, Mary and Joseph placate villagers asking for blessings and far-away kings foretelling holy prophecies, as they pray and wait to find out whether the baby is their undoing or our salvation. —Van Le
The Night We Met
A young Japanese boy (Kazuki Jalal) joins his father (Fumihito Sugawara) on a grocery run in preparation for Setsubun, the Japanese celebration that welcomes spring and drives away evil spirits with traditional bean throwing. After the boy bumps into a rude man, dark events follow him and his father back home. The Night We Met is a haunting short film about the fear that lingers from racism, accentuated by eerie, long-drawn shots and the graininess of 16mm film reminiscent of classic horror films. In a statement, director Fumiya Hayakawa recalls his experience with normalized violence and racism living in Texas, which motivated him to create this suspenseful short that captures the physical and psychological horrors of living in this country for immigrant families. —Van Le
The Non-Actor
In a voiceover recording, Elliot (Victoria Pedretti) recounts stories about other people’s experiences with hearing loss. As Elliot arrives in Los Angeles to see a hearing specialist, the audience listens with her to the faint noises that emerge from within everyday sounds. Elliot meets her ex’s girlfriend, Bella (Maya Hawke), who comes off as rude and insensitive at times. But as they spend more time together, they talk about their different perspectives on change, which begins to shift Elliot’s apathy toward hearing loss into exploring it more deeply. Eliza Barry Callahan, director of the film and author of The Hearing Test, bases the film off of elements from her novel and softens hard truths through a film that is both gentle and jarring. —Van Le
Thin Places
Birdie (Shelby Factor) grieves the loss of her best friend Tama (Quannah Chasinghorse) and Tama’s son, Junior (Roman Romero). She feels them intuitively in the weather and in her emotions, silent reminders of the memories that remain. Flashback scenes of a life spent together tell stories of how intertwined Birdie and Tama became throughout their friendship. Birdie ventures out into a field to find a means to connect with Tama where the veil between physical and spiritual worlds thin. As a Cherokee Nation citizen, filmmaker Brit Hensel creates a stunningly serene yet solemn film that bridges cultural traditions with processing grief, reminding us that the ones who passed on are never really that far away. —Van Le
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
Anywhere I Lay My Head
Anywhere I Lay My Head welcomes viewers into the home spaces that four squatters have made for themselves inside an abandoned power plant in New Orleans. As the two couples go about their daily lives, the fear of a potential redevelopment project looms over their heads. Director Fernando MacFarlane’s intimate glance into their routines shows them doing their best to clean and care for the space they’ve carved out for themselves from within the decaying insides of this towering industrial structure. Amidst the dirt and grime, the couples hug and talk about sources of tension. Illuminated by an open flame in the darkness, one vents that her mother only focuses on her drug use, failing to acknowledge her hobbies or the way she’s helped others with Narcan. After a cleaning crew enters the building and fences are erected, she has to come to terms with the hardship of leaving the home they’ve built. —William Archambeault
Aparição (Apparition)
Aparição opens in a kitchen where director Camila Freitas’ grandmother Wanda calls on the Afro-Brazilian spirit caboclo using syncretic prayer. Effects of the domestic sphere such as plastic storage containers that hold lit candles create intimacy; the Catholic prayers of invocation reference colonial history and conversely accentuate the importance of honoring Indigenous tradition. Wanda shares her stories of a man walking with no visible legs. Using split screens with focused views of lush nature, sometimes slowed and blurred for narrative effect, a spirit world opens as the backdrop to Wanda’s stories of caboclos—the director’s own. Doors, windows, and a handheld mirror showing the partial countenance of grandmother’s face signify portals to these encounters, inviting the viewer in. —Veronica Cross
Behind the Beads: Black Masking Indian Queens Share the Tradition
Behind the Beads offers a youth perspective on contemporary Black Masking Indian culture. As part of Arts New Orleans’ 2024 “Feathers of Hope” initiative, Young Artist Movement students met up with Black Masking Indian Queens to immerse themselves in the culture. The resulting documentary short features insights from these queens as filtered through students’ collage-style animations. As Big Queen Ausettua AmorAmenkum speaks about passing on tradition, the phrase “In order for something to live on, you have to allow people to interject their personal self” consumes the screen. In another scene, a bounce track is imposed over footage of Queen Angel Chung Cutno and a flurry of bright colors dance over her as she beats a tambourine she decorated in honor of her mixed Black and Asian heritage. With Behind the Beads, students showcase the perspectives of different Black Masking Indian queens while also honing their own artistic craft. —William Archambeault
Entre le Feu et le Clair de Lune (Between the Fire and the Moonlight)
“When an old man dies, a library burns,” says the narrator in Between the Fire and the Moonlight. In this poignant short, filmmaker Dominic Yarabe asks her Ivorian father to archive his memories by filming his recollections of his childhood village, a world that was destroyed in a war whose very existence has been buried by the government. Can his memories tell a story that adds up to more than the pain of his loss? Yarabe’s film answers this question with delicate, artful visuals that play expertly with the light and shadow—they are metaphors, but their beauty is also justification enough. Little by little his story is reconstructed, though mystery is present all along the edges, and we are left to contemplate the weight of war and the responsibility we bear to pick up the pieces. In this film, Yarabe does her part, reaching across the divide between his world of experience and hers, and sharing the teaching with the rest of us. —Holly Devon
Correct Me If I’m Wrong (如你所愿)
Following the attempted exorcism of a “she-boy” in Southwest China, director Hao Zhou’s haunting work asks us to consider whose demons are really plaguing whom. As 32-year-old Hao’s singleness drags on, it evokes fear, belligerence, and ritualistic desperation from his mother and grandmother. They are convinced he’s possessed by a demon girl and that his queerness can be “fixed” by some esoteric method or another. As their anxieties unfold and smother him, the nature of love and the depth of their matriarchal despair comes into focus. Is any legacy worth the cost of this cruelty? Sadly, the audience realizes he is indeed being chased by spirits: the secrets of his family’s lineage that keep them from accepting Hao as he is. Unyielding and heartbreaking, this documentary spares no one. —Terra Durio
Last of the Shrimpers
Director Jonathan Presson shines light on the threatened Louisiana shrimping industry in this moving documentary. As it follows Venice shrimper Acy Cooper Jr. on his boat, at Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries meetings, and in capitol buildings, the film asks: Can you save a dying way of life? Demand has never been higher, but 90% of all shrimp in the United States is imported, drastically undercutting local fishermen. As the cost of doing business rises exponentially, and the price per pound of local shrimp plummets, sacrifices weigh heavily on those fighting for their livelihood and heritage. Stewards three and four generations deep joke about bankruptcy, divorce, and the deterioration of rural communities, proving the cultural impacts of losing the Louisiana shrimping industry are severe. —Terra Durio
Lift Lady
Mzia Sabanadze operates a unique commuter lift with care in a colossal brutalist housing complex in Tbilisi, Georgia. Director Marcin Modzelewski offers a portrait of grace and commitment via Mzia’s daily rituals and service to the commuters. Now in her elder years, the history of Mzia (in a delicate performance by Gugu Mbatha-Raw) unfolds in her compartmentalized home where photos—from former sniper battalion mates to a Stalin portrait nestled among her Russian icons—offer reminders of the Russian occupation. Modzelewski’s slow and spare pacing juxtaposed with frames of sun-dappled concrete are full of humanity, and reflect the adaptations that people must make with larger forces. —Veronica Cross
Loves to Dance
“I’m the director of the movie so you’re going to listen to what I say to do,” exclaims our three-year-old protagonist1The print version of this feature originally incorrectly ID’ed him as Casey Beck, but that is the director-parent’s name as his parents set up mics and explain the rules of filmmaking. The premise is basic: He loves to dance, and we watch him love to dance. This short film mixes more artistic shots of him dancing filled with red light and dramatic shadows with traditional home video style footage of him dancing out in the world. It’s impossible not to smile watching this kid’s huge personality fill up the screen and every room we see him in. —Marisa Clogher
On Healing Land, Birds Perch (Đất Lành, Chim Đậu)
This gut-wrenching, incredibly nuanced documentary unpacks the story behind one of the most iconic images of the Vietnam War, “Saigon Execution”—famous for helping to turn public opinion against U.S. involvement. Directed by Naja Pham Lockwood, it juxtaposes interviews with surviving children of the men depicted in the 1969 Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph: Viet Cong/People’s Army officer Captain Lem and General Loan, the U.S. ally who killed him for allegedly slaughtering another officer’s family during the 1968 Tet Offensive. As their children defend their fathers’ characters and detail the photo’s ramifications on their lives, massacre survivor Huấn lays bare the survivor’s guilt and trauma that still haunts him. Blending archival and recent footage, unrelenting pain sears through every frame of this film. In the unfathomable fog of war, one thing is clear: Pictures never tell the whole story. —Terra Durio
Rice & Grits: A Vietnamese American Culinary Odyssey of the American South
“Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet” reads the Rudyard Kipling quote that opens Rice & Grits. “He never knew My South…” reads another line of text as rice falls onto a black background. In Rice & Grits, filmmaker Hieu Huynh sits down with her mother Nga Thi Ly as the two prepare both Vietnamese and Southern food at her childhood home in Waycross, Georgia. While making food together, Huynh asks her mother questions in Vietnamese about her life in Vietnam and immigrating to the United States. Ly recalls how different Waycross felt to her upon arrival. Instead of eating rice like she was accustomed to, Ly ate hamburgers even though she didn’t care for the taste. Eventually, she figured out how to cook Vietnamese dishes in her new home and absorbed new cooking lessons from the television. Over the years, Waycross transformed from a foreign environment into the place where she would eventually retire. —William Archambeault
We Were The Scenery
We Were The Scenery urges viewers to look beyond Apocalypse Now’s American cast, who garnered fame and fortune, and instead consider the perspectives of the iconic film’s unrecognized Vietnamese extras. After escaping Vietnam in 1975, Hoa Thi Lê and Hue Nguyen Che found themselves working as extras during their time at a refugee camp in the Philippines. Seemingly all of the camp’s Vietnamese refugees, adult and child alike, were bussed out to re-enact the harsh realities they had just fled in exchange for approximately 80 pesos a day. “With real living Vietnamese people in it, it gives it a feeling of being real. There’s a sense that it feels authentic,” notes Che in his native language. During this 15-minute short (directed by Christopher Radcliff), Lê and Che recall their lives in Vietnam, their roles in Apocalypse Now, and the lives that followed abroad. —William Archambeault
ANIMATED & EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS
Caries
In this surreal animated Swiss short written, directed, produced, and edited by Aline Höchli, an artistic loner lives inside the mouth of a meteorologist. That’s no metaphor: Traversing a mostly barren landscape of mountainous molars, our mouth-dwelling protagonist lives alone, painting murals on the face of a tooth. Completely unaware of her host, only mole-like tongue critters keep her company—that is, until a misstep by the germ-averse weatherman brings new inhabitants into the gummy fold, changing everything. Caries’ unpretentious linework, watercolor scenery, and eccentric soundscapes evoke a sincere simplicity that invites both characters and viewers on a childlike quest to derive meaning from our absurd existences. —Terra Durio
Cellulose Documents: Forget Me Not
This experimental short by Katina Bitsicas (with Scott McMahon) employs salvaged nitrate film negatives featuring studio portraits of women. Nitrate film is extremely combustible and repeatedly caused fires in movie theaters, hence the end of its production in the 1950s. The portraits are then overlayed with magnified and degraded images of plant cellular structures, connecting the cellular nature of the film and the plant matter. Captured eternally smiling, the models don’t protest when they appear sideways or swatches of organic materials obscure them. Experimental music with fragmented voiceover accompanies the film, a phone rings, and the sound loops, to eerie effect. —Veronica Cross
The 36th New Orleans Film Festival will take place in-person between October 23 through 27 and virtually until November 2. For more info, check out neworleansfilmsociety.org.
