New Orleans Film Festival 2015

The 26th annual New Orleans Film Festival began last week and continues through Thursday night. The festival opened with the premiere of Louisiana-shot Born to Be Blue at the newly restored and beautifully ornate Orpheum Theatre. A mural for the festival, painted on a stretch of St. Charles near Lee Circle, features the faces of people watching different genres of movies. I was beyond honored to be included as one of the faces reimagined by the super-talented and prolific street artist Brandan “B-mike” Odums best known for his sophisticated and grand “graffiti” work at an abandoned apartment complex set for redevelopment. So imagine how fun it was to find that every screen in the festival has the mural on it as people take their seats and every movie at the festival opens with a time-lapse short film of the artist at work on the faces.

New Orleans Film Fest

The New Orleans Film Society (NOFS) kicked off its 24th film fest last Thursday night with the premiere of 12 Years a Slave. For 2 years in a row, MovieMaker Magazine included the New Orleans Film Festival (NOFF) in its “Top 25 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.” NOFS Executive Director Jolene Pinder should probably prepare for a 3rd inclusion in this honor. The fest has panels, outdoor screenings and plenty of brass bands along with a variety of premieres, many of which were filmed right here in Louisiana.

Oscars in Hollywood South

When I was a kid, the Academy Awards was about dresses and hairdos. I was too young to have seen most of the movies and had no idea what sound design was or why it should get an award, but those dresses and hairdos and jewels and shoes had my full attention. By my 20’s, I had opinions about who should win and got excited when they picked one of my favorites (and I loved the dresses). A funny thing happened in my 30’s – I started noticing how many people I knew in the audience, how many I’d worked with, how many were friends. The Oscars became personal for me. Then movies I acted in got nominated and some won awards. I was thrilled but I never really thought I’d contributed in any way to that win. Tonight, as Best Screenplay winner Quentin Tarantino thanked the actors who bring his characters to life (and pretty much no one else), I felt like I personally contributed to an Oscar win.