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.

Summer Movies and NOLA

Like many people, summer means movies to me – big screen tentpole star-studded extravaganzas meant to be seen with a crowd. I haven’t seen them all (like I might have in Los Angeles) but I noticed a common thread in many of the ones I did see – Hollywood South has arrived. If you’ve read this blog’s “About” page, you know that I moved to New Orleans in 2009, after almost 18 years in L. A., hoping to be able to continue my career as an actor in my family’s home state. As I made the leap, many of my friends encouraged me saying, “Watch, you’ll end up working more than ever.” I’m happy to report that in the 3 1/2 years I’ve been here, the whole state is working in the movie business more than ever.

Between the parades

I’ve spent so much time talking about parades that some of the simpler things I love about New Orleans have fallen through the cracks.