At the 2018 New Orleans Film Festival, attendees will have an opportunity to see 220 films across various genres and formats including documentaries, full-length features, animated shorts, music videos and more. Taking place October 17 through October 25, the 29th annual affair boasts a diverse lineup; 60% of the films are directed by women and 54% by directors of color.
There are 120 countries represented in this year’s New Orleans Film Festival, which this year will feature a focus on “Caribbean Voices.” The closing-night film is A Tuba to Cuba which, according to organizers, “underscores the festival’s programmatic focus on films from and about the Caribbean and the Caribbean diaspora, particularly those that speak to the historical and cultural ties between New Orleans and the Caribbean.” The film follows the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to the island, where they explore musical roots. Screening at the Contemporary Arts Center on October 25, the film will be followed with a special performance from the band.
Of special note are the Louisiana features on deck this year, which include:
Bending Lines: The Sculpture of Robert Wiggs | dir. Allison Bohl DeHart, Peter DeHart | USA
Obsessed with the repeating geometry of nature, a sculptor works in the space between art and science.
Buckjumping | dir. Lily Keber | USA
WORLD PREMIERE. Buckjumping takes the pulse of present-day New Orleans by turning to its dancers, the men and women who embody the rhythm of the city and prove it on the streets every chance they get.
Mississippi Madam: The Life of Nellie Jackson | dir. Timothy Givens, Mark K. Brockway | USA
In 1902 Nellie Jackson, an African-American woman born into poverty in Possum Corner, Mississippi, traveled north to Natchez and opened “Nellie’s”, a brothel she ran for more than sixty years.
Same God | dir. Linda Midgett | USA
The first African American woman to gain tenure at “the evangelical Harvard” faces a life-altering backlash to her public show of solidarity with American Muslims.
The True Don Quixote | dir. Chris Poché | USA
WORLD PREMIERE. Danny Kehoe lives an ordinary life that leaves him bored nearly to death. His only escape is in his collection of books and comics, all recounting, with great inaccuracy, the romantic tales of the chivalrous Knights Errant. When those books are taken away, he goes mad. In his desperation, he re-christens himself as the last and greatest knight of all, Don Quixote.
This Little Light | dir. Ada McMahon, Wendi Moore-O’Neal | USA
When Black feminist freedom singer Wendi Moore-O’Neal married her now wife, Mandisa, she was fired from her job as a community organizer. This is a self-determined portrait about the Black Southern Freedom movement.
This Taco Truck Kills Fascists | dir. Rodrigo Dorfman | USA
WORLD PREMIERE. Jose Torres-Tama is on a mission: to create a revolutionary Taco Truck Theatre with a simple message: “No guacamole for immigrant haters”.
Tomorrow Never Knows | dir. Adam Sekuler | USA
The uncomfortable reality of death is faced by Shar and Cynthia who, upon Shar’s diagnosis with early-onset Alzheimer’s, make a brave and difficult decision.
On August 29, cinephiles will have an opportunity to jump-start the NOFF season by attending a special preview of the Ethan Hawke-directed film BLAZE, a biopic of unsung Texas outlaw music legend Blaze Foley. This event takes place at the Orpheum Theater.
“Audiences are hungry for trailblazing films, dynamic perspectives and broader representation on-screen and behind the camera. We hope that #NOFF2018 will be site of discovery–– for stories less often celebrated, for creative voices that aren’t prioritized for mainstream Hollywood, and for audiences who are drawn to films that reflect and shape our culture today,” said New Orleans Film Society’s Executive Director, Fallon Young.
For more information, including tickets and a full list of programming, click here.
