New Orleans may be Hollywood South, but most of the high-profile red-carpet events for films made in Louisiana still take place in Los Angeles or New York. Beasts of the Southern Wild, though, isn’t your average locally shot movie. It was made by Court 13, a film-making collective based in New Orleans, on an indie budget in the bayous of Terrebonne Parish and other towns in Southeastern Louisiana with all non-professional actors. It’s also been the talk of the film world ever since it won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and followed that up with two awards at Cannes. Recently, gushing reviews from top movie critics have been flowing in, including A.O. Scott’s in the New York Times, in which he called the film “a blast of sheer, improbable joy, a boisterous, thrilling action movie.”

After a special screening Sunday night in Montegut, Louisiana—home of Court 13’s production headquarters during filming—Beasts of the Southern Wild held its national premiere right on Canal Street at the Joy Theater. In addition to the cast and crew, local luminaries like Rita Benson-Leblanc and actors like Treme‘s Lance Nichols attended the red-carpet event. Today, Beasts opened in select Los Angeles and New York theaters. It opens in New Orleans on July 4, showing at the Prytania Theatre, Theatres at Canal Place, and AMC Elmwood Palace 20.

For more on Beasts of the Southern Wild, in the July issue of OffBeat we have an oral-history-style interview with Benh Zeitlin, the director; lead actors Dwight Henry and Quvenzhané Wallis; and producers Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey and Josh Penn.

All photos were taken by Caitlyn Ridenour.

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