Hindsight: Louisiana

It was announced on Monday that Louisiana Public Broadcast, known as LPB, will premiere the locally produced limited series Hindsight: Louisiana. The series will focus on two young filmmakers, Zac Manuel and Kiyoko McCrae, both of whom are Louisiana residents. In association with Reel South, and specifically The Hindsight Project, Hindsight: Louisiana seeks to promote stories and films told by black and indigenous filmmakers in the Southern US. Zac Manuel is a director, cinematographer, and documentarian from New Orleans who focuses on the topics of race, identity, and legacy. You can see his film The Body on LPB Friday, Nov 5 at 8:00pm. Kiyoko McCrae, who we’ve discussed on U&I before, is a Japanese-American filmmaker and theater director. Her film We Stay in the House, will premiere on LBP Friday, Nov 12 at 8:00pm.

New Orleans Film Festival

The New Orleans Film Festival is back beginning this Friday November 5th, and will run through the 14th for in-person events, and through the 21st for virtual events. After last year’s festival being exclusively online and outdoors, NOFF 2021 will have screenings in venues all across the city, and you can buy passes for both in-person and online screenings. This year’s lineup includes films of all styles, genres, and formats, which include features and shorts of the live action, animated, and documentary variety, as well as experimental short films, family friendly films, comedies, southern films, and quite a bit more. Some major films that are being screened include C’mon, C’mon which stars Joaquin Phoenix, as well as the documentary Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase the Blues Away. Neutral Ground Films also has an entry this year with Jordan Johnson’s Blue Country, a narrative short that will screen online and at Elmwood Palace on November 6th and the 14th. Many of us at The Ranch were involved in the production of this film, so I highly recommend watching it. To see the entire lineup, schedule, ticket details, and safety information, go to their website.

Heart of Champions

Heart of Champions, a film starring Michael Shannon that was produced in Baton Rouge, was released in theaters last Friday and will be available to stream November 19. The film follows a college rowing team that has to battle the drama and infighting of teammates, and according to the mayor of New Roads “brings everybody together [and] talks about unity, leadership, and teamwork.” The movie was filmed in late 2019, and has already made an impact on Baton Rouge’s economy and tourism during production alone. We hope that Baton Rouge will continue to be a spot for production, as that will help shape the future
of filmmaking in Louisiana.

Sundance Film Festival

With the turn of the New Year coming sooner than we even realize, it means that one of the biggest events in film is coming up as well! The Sundance Film Festival will be taking place January 20-30 of 2022. The lineup hasn’t been announced yet, but their team of programmers are working hard to make sure that the best of the Indie Film world is represented at the festival. You can go to their website to learn about applications, tickets, awards, artist programs, and more.

Top 5 of the Week

This week, we’re going to the weekly box office for our top 5.

• Number 1 is Dune, which pulled in over $15 Million in its second weekend. A sequel for the film has also been confirmed for 2023, and fans seem to be rallying around the adaptation due to its visuals and accuracy to the source material.

• Number 2 is Halloween Kills, which opened on October 15th and made $8.7 Million in its third week. The film got mixed reviews but is comprised of both familiar and new faces to the Halloween franchise.
• Number 3 is No Time To Die in its fourth week in theaters. The latest Bond film has made over $130 Million domestically and over $600 Million internationally.
• Number 4 is My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission based on the popular anime. That made over $6 Million in its opening week.
• Number 5 is Venom 2, which has been out for over a month and has brought in nearly $200 Million domestically.