The festival opens tonight at 7 p.m., with a screening at the Orpheum Theater of the documentary film A King Like Me, which follows the members of the famous Zulu Club, as they strive to bring their parade back to the streets of La Nouvelle Orléans for Mardi Gras Day 2022, after the cancellation of the festivities the previous year. Pandemic restrictions, the dangers of COVID, Hurricane Ida, not to mention the gun violence that affects so many families: all obstacles that this community is working to face together. This documentary is a moving and modern portrait of brotherhood, courage, resilience and leadership.

“It was important for us to open the festival with a work that celebrated Louisiana culture and particularly that of New Orleans, but also provided an uncompromising look at the problems encountered by this community,” explains Tishon Pugh, responsible for the festival programming and relations with directors, and also invested in the selection of films, particularly those produced in the South and Louisiana.   

“The vast majority of films offered during the festival come from submissions received throughout the year,” adds Pugh, “which allows us to discover talents who do not always have the opportunity to find a platform to be seen and heard.” In the same approach of openness and diversity, a large half of the films presented are directed by women and gender non-conforming filmmakers as well as by artists of color.

Around forty films screened at the festival were made in Louisiana, including its Centerpiece Film,  Nickel Boys, the narrative feature directing debut from Oscar®-nominated director RaMell Ross. The movie was shot in and around LaPlace, New Orleans, Hammond, Ponchatoula and Thibodaux from October to December 2022; it was scripted by Ross and Joslyn Barnes and adapted from the 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead. The film will screen Sunday, October 20 (8:15pm) at the Contemporary Arts Center.

“This is a homecoming screening, and we’re thrilled to celebrate RaMell Ross’s artful storytelling here in the place it was made,” says New Orleans Film Society Artistic Director Clint Bowie. “This screening also gives us an opportunity to shine a light on the incredible work of the Louisiana-based production community that helped bring this project to screen.”

For 35 years, this festival has brought together an incredible dose of talent, whether they are new to the profession or more experienced; everyone has strong and special stories to tell and finds in New Orleans an exceptional platform and a passionate audience.