Category: Film

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Southern Screen Festival returns for 12th year with in-person/virtural opportunities to view films and docs

The Quiet Cajuns, a short documentary by Conni Castille about Acadian Usher Syndrome that afflicts many family trees with deaf/blind aunts, uncles and cousins.

from BHP Reports

LAFAYETTE, LA — Keep in mind a couple of don’t miss local documentaries when The 12th annual Southern Screen Festival will be presented in-person in Downtown Lafayette, Louisiana November 10-13, 2022.

Southern Screen gets underway Thursday, Nov. 10,: 630 p.m. at Acadiana Center for the Arts, 101 W. Vermilion St., with a Champagne + Oysters social.

On the screen is Band of Outsiders (narrative feature screening), a 1964 Jean-Luc Godard reimagined gangster film where two restless young men enlist the object of both of their fancies to help them commit a robbery—in her own home.

The Louisiana docs are The Quiet Cajuns and Roots of Fire.

Conni Castille’s, The Quiet Cajuns, debuted at the AcA in March of this year. The short doc is about two generations of Acadian Usher Syndrome, which has sprinkled many family trees with deaf/blind aunts, uncles and cousins. Cinematographers were Allison Bohl Dehart and Brian C. Miller.

Show times at Southern Screen are Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022, 12:35 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 13, 11:45 a.m. You’ll also have the option to stream online.

Castille’s previous docs are I Always Do My Collars First (2007), Raised on Rice and Gravy (2009), King Crawfish (2010);and T-Galop: A Louisiana Horse Story (2012).

Roots of Fire is summed up this way: The battle to revive a dying tradition comes to life through the young musicians of Southwest Louisiana in this powerful musical documentary. Amidst shuttered rural dance clubs and encroaching globalization, five Grammy award-winning artists lend their voices, examine the discrimination that almost erased their customs, and share the unique sounds created when the forces of fresh talent and deep history collide to fight for cultural survival.

Presented by CODOFIL (Council for the Development of French in Louisiana), ‘Fire’ is directed by Abby Berendt Lavoi and Jeremey Lavoi. Producers are Abby Berendt Lavoi, Jeremey Lavoi, Stephen Thorpe

Roots of Fire screens Saturday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m. and is available virtually, as well.

Highlights of Southern Screen include sessions with Franki Chan (IHEARTCOMIX) and entertainment lawyer, Steven Lowy.

Highlight screenings include Roadrunner: Triangle of Sadness, Fire of Love documentary, and local Louisiana and international short films.

You have options to view the films, in-person or virtually.

Herewith the Southern Screen Festival schedule:

Thursday, November 10
 
6:30PM-9:35PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
Champagne + Oysters SocialBAND OF OUTSIDERS (narrative feature screening)In the 1964 Jean-Luc Godard reimagined gangster film, two restless young men enlist the object of both of their fancies to help them commit a robbery—in her own home.
 
Friday, November 11
 
6:00PM-7:00PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
Short Fiction Writing Competition Winner Announcement + ReadingJoin us as we name and read the winner of this year’s short fiction story based on the theme of “Celebration and the South.”
 
6:00PM-7:00PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
Film Festival Programming AMA w/Eric HatchBaltimore based film programmer, critic, and distributor Eric Hatch will be available to answer any questions you have about film festival programming.
 
7:05PM-8:35PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
BUTTERFLY IN THE SKY (documentary feature screening)
A delightful story of the beloved PBS children’s series “Reading Rainbow,” its iconic host LeVar Burton, and the challenges its creators faced in cultivating a love of reading through television.
 
8:30PM
Wild Child Wines
Friday Night Social w/ Boma Banga + Basher
Grab some drinks and enjoy the hypnotic reimagining of 1960s and 70s Congolese Rhumba with Boma Bango and the freak out dance, free avant-pop, post-jazz groove punk music of Basher.
 

Saturday, November 12
 
11:00PM-12:30PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
Louisiana Storytellers Panel w/ Abraham Felix (Filmmaker), Cheryl Duvall (Storyteller), Drake LeBlanc (Filmmaker), Linda Midget (LPB/ Moderator)
From audio stories to commercial content to indie films, learn how these local creators celebrate community through their craft.
 
12:35PM-2:15PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
Shorts Series 1-
 
11 – An unconfident hooper plays a pickup game to 11, and with the help of his best friend, he’ll showcase skills that he didn’t believe he had.
 
QUITTING TIME – City bus driver, Luis, end his shift—but fills his hours with an extra-curricular activity that keeps him on the move.
 
PATTERN – We all get lost in patterns. For some of us they can be totally consuming.
 
WILD CHILD – On a cold evening in the French Quarter, a woman’s quiet evening transforms into something wilder.
 
EVA WANTS TO STAY IN – After coming home exhausted from work, Eve is confronted by a literal pile of chores and her wife, Audrey, ready to hit the town.
 
JUDY’S THOUGHTS – In 1981, a vibrant mother recorded her thoughts on a cassette tape as her life was slipping away.
 
THE QUIET CAJUNS – The story of Acadian Usher Syndrome sprinkles many Cajun family trees with deafblind aunts, uncles and cousins.
 
Followed by filmmakers Q&A
 
2:20PM-3:50PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
Know Your Film Rights w/ Steven Lowy
Set yourself up for success by learning how to navigate the legal landscape of rights that often arise when making a narrative or documentary film.
 
4:15PM-6:35PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS (narrative feature screening)
Social hierarchy is turned upside down when a celebrity model couple are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich.
 
7:00PM-8:25PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
ROOTS OF FIRE (documentary feature screening)
Followed by filmmaker Q&A
The battle to revive dying traditions comes to life through the young musicians of Southwest Louisiana.
 
8:30PM
Hideaway Hall
ROOTS OF FIRE After Party w/Pine Leaf Boys and Special Guest
 

Sunday, November 13
 
11:00PM-12:40PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
Shorts Series 2 –
 
THE NEGRO AND THE CHEESE KNIFE – Have you ever heard of a Black man with a cheese knife? Unfortunately for Antione, neither have the police.
 
DAY OF THE DEB – The looming apocalypse forces a broken-hearted man to come to terms with the women who left him.
 
CAFFEINATED – An ex-couple finds themselves facing the undead as they bide time in the shelter of a bar.
 
THE PERFECT DAY – Charlie Hoover, an aspiring ad man living in his van, eagerly answers a job posting to videotape Linda Lindell’s online life coaching series.
 
VIOLET BUTTERFIELD – A mortician beautician brings out the beauty in death that her clients could have had in life.
 
STRANGER THAN ROTTERDAM WITH SARAH DRIVER – The completion of Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise hinged on the smuggle of one of the world’s most controversial films.
 
A SHAMAN’S TALE – A powerful shaman embarks on a mystical journey from the deep jungle to the cosmos.
 
HOT MOTHER – At an idyllic hot springs retreat a vacationing mother and daughter bicker and avoid connection.
 
Followed by filmmakers Q&A
 
12:45PM-2:15PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
Fixing it in Post: Digital Clean-Up on a Lo/No Budget Session w/ Dag Luther Gooch
Wanna know what you can and can’t do in post or how to avoid a bunchofexpensivepostwork? Compositing? CameraTracking? Rotoscoping? Get all of your questions answered and more.
 
2:30PM-4:06PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
THE INTEGRITY OF JOSEPH CHAMBERS (narrative feature screening)
A family man, hoping to prove his survivalist capabilities to his family, irresponsibly heads off into the woods to go deer hunting.
 
4:15PM-5:45PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
Storytelling in Marketing: Experiential and Digital Session w/ Franki Chan
Sit down with Crescendo! Host Greg Bresnitz to explore FRANKI CHAN’s IHEARTCOMIX, a Los Angeles based studio responsible for some of the most innovative modern marketing campaigns.
 
6:00PM-7:40PM
Acadiana Center for the Arts
FIRE OF LOVE (documentary feature screening)
Katia and Maurice Krafft loved two things — each other, and volcanoes.
 
7:45PM
Blue Moon Saloon
Wrap Party w/ Speech Fuzz + Bruisey Peets
That’s a wrap for Southern Screen 2022. Close out the festive weekend with drinks, food and twee pop, indie-rock band Speech Fuzz along with the dreamy sounds of Bruisey Peets.
 
For more information about Southern Screen 2022 please visit www.southernscreen.org.

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From jam session to intangible connection to Festival stage, local horn player LeBlanc sits in with international band(s)

Josh LeBlanc, right, sat in on trumpet with The Flying Balalaika Brothers, Thursday, April 28, 2022, in Day 2 of Festival International de Louisiane in Downtown Lafayette. DCross/photo

by DOMINICK CROSS

LAFAYETTE, La. — It was the before times, 2019 to be exact, at a jam session just steps away from Festival International de Louisiane in Downtown Lafayette, when Josh LeBlanc and his trumpet met The Flying Balalaika Brothers.

And in no time LeBlanc was asked to join his newfound, yet strangely familiar, musician friends on a Festival stage.

“I just randomly jammed with them,” said LeBlanc, an Abbeville native living in Lafayette. “The next day, they asked me to play with them at Festival. I even had less time to prepare the last time. It was literally the day after, but I just pretty much improvised over a lot of their stuff.

“(Zhenya Rock) was quickly showing me stuff back stage as best he could,” LeBlanc recalled, adding that his days with gypsy swing band, Vagabond Swing in 2009-2010, had helped in the endeavor. “And I was like, ‘I’m very familiar with these modes and scales and style.’”

Upon Festival’s 2022 return, it was this past Thursday evening that the Russian/Ukrainian/U.S. band and LeBlanc were reunited on Scene Laborde Earles Fais Do Do.

And this time around, it was smooth sailing.

“I’m just kind of looking at him, waiting for him to give me the signal,” said LeBlanc. “But I had a chance to chart-out everything and write charts for it — in-between other bands I’ll be playing with for Festival.”

‘It just felt like, immediately, I’d been playing with them forever.’

Josh LeBlanc

LeBlanc had a gig later that evening with Malentina & the Lafayette Latin All-Stars at the Grouse Room, Downtown Lafayette.

And come 7 o’clock Saturday evening at Festival, LeBlanc will sit in on a couple of songs with Delgres at Scene LUS Internationale.

It wasn’t a stroke of luck that LeBlanc, who also plays bass with the band, Givers, finds himself blowing his horn with international musicians, it was a choice (and, of course study, practice, practice and practice).

“I was a marching band geek. Whenever I discovered jazz, that’s when I changed. That was in college,” he said. “Once I discovered jazz, I was like, ‘Cool. I can improvise and make my own music.’ I tried doing classical trumpet for a while, but it wasn’t for me. It’s too rigid.

Josh LeBlanc, right, awaits the word from Zhenya Rock, with accordion, to take off on a solo. DCross/photo

“Thankfully, I studied jazz so I can do things like this and just improvise,” said LeBlanc, with a nod to the stage as Haiti’s Lakou Mizik set up, now that it was vacated by The Flying Balalaika Brothers. “Just tell me the key and then I’ll try to make up something that fits.”

So while Vagabond Swing, in some ways prepped LeBlanc for The Flying Balalaika Brothers, there was also a connection with the band members at that 2019 jam that defies description.

“There was something about meeting them, I felt like immediately I knew them somehow. It was like a weird thing,” LeBlanc said. “You know, Russian culture and then Louisiana culture, you wouldn’t think there’s an intersection there, but for some reason, it just felt like, immediately, I’d been playing with them forever.”

Festival, conceived as a multi-faceted cultural event of international scope and significance, continues through Sunday.

The remaining schedule:

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

For Dogs’ sake

As a matter of public safety, animal safety and basic common sense, do leave your pets at home when attending Festival.

Cassandra jumps for joy and Clarence concurs on the news that they’ll miss Festival again this year. DCross/photo

We, the upright, two-legged mammal with opposing thumbs who actually enjoy loud music, tons of people we don’t know, and can traverse Downtown’s hot sidewalks and streets with ease without burning the pads off our feet, should use our status on the food chain and do right by our pets.

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Festival returns front, center, and live in Downtown Lafayette; Ukraine’s DakhaBrakha set for Saturday night

Festival International de Louisiane is underway in Downtown Lafayette, April 27-May 1, 2022. DCross photo from FIL 2019

by DOMINICK CROSS

LAFAYETTE, LA — It appears the planets are aligned for Festival International de Louisiane when it returns, live, to Downtown Lafayette this week after two years in pandemic postponement purgatory.

Festival, the well-earned, singular moniker given to the five-day international music, food and art spectacular, runs Wednesday, April 27, 2022 through Sunday, May 1, 2022.

Ordinarily the only concern, the weather, looks to hold rather nicely with pleasant sunny days and doable humidity with comfortably cool evenings — at least until possibly sometime Sunday.

An unusual concern and the reason behind the past two vacated years, covid (festivalus interruptus), in whatever version it finds itself as these days, is of low concern here, according to the CDC.

So, with weather and covid in the bag, coupled with the usual stellar music line-up, Festival should experience some hefty crowds.

And those crowds will no doubt swell to see and support DakhaBrakha (Saturday, 9 p.m., Scene Tito’s Handmade Vodka Lafayette), a group from Ukraine whose country is under attack from Russia. One might want to also check out the Flying Balalaika Brothers (Thursday, 6 p.m. Scene Laborde Earles Fais Do Do). The group consists of musicians from Russia/Ukraine/U.S. and that ought to show the world that we can get along.

But it all begins Wednesday at Scene Laborde Earls Fais Do Do when father-son zydeco bands hit the stage. Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas open at 6:30 p.m., to be followed by Lil’ Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers.

By the way, look for a new release coming from Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas. Also, take note that Dennis Paul Williams, Cha Cha guitarist/artist, is illustrating a book on zydeco with Michael Tisserand.

Internationally speaking, the line-up also includes The Wailers (Jamaica), Locos For Juana (Colombia/Venezuela/Argentina/U.S.), Les Filled de Illighadad (Niger), Natu Camara (Guinea), Vieux Farka Toure (Mali), Cimafunk (Cuba), Lakou Mizik (Haiti), and Son Rompe Pera (Mexico) and others.

Louisiana is well-represented with Zachary Richard, Sonny Landreth, Julian Primeaux, Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole, Roddie Romero & Michael Juan Nunez, Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots, Lost Bayou Ramblers w/79rs Gang, Dustin Dale Gaspard, The Daiquiri Queens, Boma Bango, Magnolia Sisters and Sou Express Brass Band, and others.

Opening ceremonies are Thursday, 7:30 p.m. at Scene LUS Internationale. Here’s the schedule:

Wednesday, 4.27.22 Thursday, 4.28.22 Friday, 4.29.22 Saturday, 4.30.22 Sunday, 5.1.22

For dogs’ sake

Cassandra jumps for joy and Clarence concurs on the news that they’ll miss Festival again this year.

As a matter of public safety, animal safety and basic common sense, do leave your pets at home when attending Festival.

We, the upright, two-legged mammal with opposing thumbs who actually enjoy loud music, tons of people we don’t know, and can traverse Downtown’s hot sidewalks and streets with ease without burning the pads off our feet, should use our status on the food chain and do right by our pets.

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Off the Record

Harp on

The Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica, via live broadcast on Youtube recently, let it be known that Jerry Devillier, of Eunice, was selected by a panel of his peers as the recipient of 2020’s “Lifetime Achievement Award.”

SPAH is the largest international harmonica organization which features many of the greatest harmonica players worldwide.

It was part of the organizations award ceremony, August 11-15, that culminates its four days of teaching and live performances to large gatherings of people that usually attend the organization’s conference, held annually at a major city.

Devillier continues to be an ambassador for Cajun music and its culture on a worldwide platform.

Due to the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic it was performed on live stream.

Trust-worthy

The Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation recently honored 10 new award recipients for their impactful efforts to save historic places, build pride and foster engagement in their communities.

Main Street Award – Houma Downtown Development Corporation, Houma
Education Award – Cooley House Foundation, Monroe
Leadership Award – Betty Reed, Lake Providence
Organizational Excellence Award – Morganza Cultural District, Morganza
Stewardship Award – Cameron Preservation Alliance, Sabine Pass Lighthouse Phase 1
Diverse Heritage Award – Gaynell Brady “Our Mammy’s,” New Orleans
Living Trades Award – Dale Pierrottie – Bousillage Specialist, Lafayette
Louisiana Heritage Media Award – Amy & Kelby Ouchley, Rocky Branch
Sue Turner Preservationist of the Year Award – George Marks (NUNU Arts & Cultural Collective), Arnaudville
Winnie Byrd Preservationist Extraordinaire Award – Chee Chee & Lazar “L.J.” Gielen, Crowley
New award categories for this year include Stewardship; Diverse Heritage; Living Trades; and LA Heritage Media Award. If you would like to nominate a person or organization for the 2021 Louisiana Preservation Awards, please contact info@LTHP.org.
For more information about the awards and winners, go here.

French Culture Film Grant winner

The recipient of the 2020 French Culture Film Grant is the narrative short film, “17 Year Locust.”
“17 Year Locust” is written by Trevor Navarre, directed by Logan LeBlanc and produced by Allison Bohl DeHart.

Now in its forth year, the French Culture Film Grant is a unique opportunity designed in partnership with lead sponsor TV5MONDE USA, America’s only 24/7 French language entertainment channel.

“17 Year Locust” synopsis: When a struggling immigrant takes a job as a caregiver to a dying woman, she shares with him a secret that casts a haunting shadow on the American life that he has desperately been pursuing.

#CreateLouisiana announced the award in July.


LFR online classes

Louisiana Folk Roots offers lessons for every skill level, including scratch/beginner, intermediate, and advanced on accordion and fiddle, as well as singing and guitar.
Pre-recorded video lessons with some of Cajun music’s best, Brazos Huval, Chad Huval, Megan Brown Constantin, as well as Louisiana French lessons with Codofil-Agence des Affaires Francophones de Louisiane’s Maggie Perkins Justus.

All levels follow the same five songs:

“Le Moulin” by Adam Hebert https://youtu.be/CYpuHiZ-zTw
; “Amite Casse” by Horace Trahan https://youtu.be/JsWzzznjNb4
; “Mon Coeur Fait Mal” by Racine https://youtu.be/1QtXvR8XqX8; 
“I Don’t Hurt Anymore” by Nathan Abshire https://youtu.be/3dK7JmFl3Hc; 
“Jolie Fille” by The Touchet Family https://youtu.be/HNi8Ru96MHQ
There are also lyric sheets and vocabulary sheets, as well as resource guides in all of the appropriate lessons.

Look for more content in the coming months.

A suggested donation is $100 or less. For more info, go to www.lafolkroots.org.

‘American Longhair’ vinyl reissue

Dege Legg’s “Folk Songs of the American Longhair” is out on vinyl for its 10th anniversary.

From Brother Dege on Facebook: “Been a long, up & down, wild ass journey, my loves. Much thx to you for taking the ride with me. In many ways, it’s only just beginning. Keep fighting the good fight out there in whatever way it is you do it. Cheers.”
Go here for album.

As you know, “Too Old to Die Young” was featured in the Quentin Tarantino film, “Django Unchained.” But there’s more: “Frankly, every track on Brother Dege’s Folk Songs of the American Longhair CD could have been in the movie [Django Unchained]. It has a badass score sound to it. Almost every song could be a theme song. It’s like a greatest hits album. But this song ‘Too Old to Die Young’… it’s pretty damn badass. And it’s used in the movie in a pretty damn badass way, I’ve got to say.” – Quentin Tarantino

Renée Reed’s new deed

Renée Reed follows up her captivating debut single “Out Loud” with “Until Tomorrow,” an effortless, inspired union of the haunting folk music that she was raised on and a lilting, lost ’60s French-pop gem on the Keeled Scales label.

Renée is the daughter of musicians Lisa Kaye Trahan and Mitch Reed.

Language & cultural preservation

Although French is spoken less with each passing generation in south Louisiana, some are fighting to preserve the language and keep their traditions alive.

Check out the report from France 24’s Fanny Allard here.

Upcoming and recently released music that may well interest you:

July 1, 2020
Sean Ardoin: Came Thru Pullin’ (Zydekool)
Cameron Dupuy and the Cajun Troubadours: Cameron Dupuy and the Cajun Troubadours (Independent)
Beth Patterson & Hugh Morrision: Iron Roux (EP) (Dun Eistein)
Supercharmer: Magically Bodacious! (Independent)
Warren Storm with Herb Landry & the Serenaders: Live 1957  (Swamp Pop Records)

July 3, 2020
Bobby Mitchell: Try Rock And Roll (Jasmine)
subdudes: Lickskillet (Independent)

July 10, 2020
Johnette Downing and Dickie Knickerbocker: New Moon, Tunes for Little Folks (Independent)

July 13, 2020
Maceo Parker: Soul Food: Cooking With Maceo (featuring a large cast of New Orleans Musicians) (Funk Garage)

July 15, 2020
Monique Bornstein & James Andrews: Born in the Treme (BOOK)  (Independent)
Kidd Jordan: Last Trane to New Orleans (Independent)

July 17, 2020
Gregg Martinez: Mac Daddy Mojeaux (NOLA Blue Records)
Michot’s Melody Makers: Cosmic Cajuns from Saturn (Nouveau Electric Records)

July 24, 2020
Billie Davies: Whadeva (Independent)

August  1, 2020
New Orleans Johnnys: Outta Ya Mind Masters (Independent)

September, 2020
Chris Joseph: Life is a Ride: Overcoming Cancer in Unconventional Ways (BOOK) (Threadhead)
Ingrid Lucia: t.b.a. (Independent)

Fall 2020
Maggie Koerner: Images (Concord Records)

Release dates not yet announced
Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr.: The Eclectic Jazz Revolution of Unity (Independent)
Keith Burnstein’s Kettle Black: Things That Are Heavy Make Me Feel Light (Independent)
Little Maker: The Salty Seas We Used to Know (Independent)
Jeremy Davenport: t.b.a. (Basin Street)
Nicholas Payton with the Simphonieorchester, Basel: Black American Symphony (BMF)

Released in June 2020
Johnny Adams & Lee Dorsey: Johnny Adams Meets Lee Dorsey (Jasmine)
Jeff Albert: Unanimous Sources (Breakfast for Dinner Records)
Bad Moon Lander: Chinese Lanterns (Bubble Bath Records)
Jimmy Buffett: Life on the Flip Side (Mailboat Records)
Grayson Capps: South Front Street: A Retrospective 1997-2019 (Royal Potato Family)
Bobby Charles: Alligators, Sprockets & Bended Knees (Jasmine)
Dr. John: Ske Dat De Dat  (Limited reissue on vinyl) (Last Music Company)
John Lisi & Delta Funk: Retox (Rabadash Records)
Little Death: Little Death (Strange Daisy Records)
Wynton Marsalis: Black Codes (From the Underground) (Reissued from Sony Records) (Music on CD)
Mighty Brother: The Rabbit, The Owl (Independent)
New Orleans Jazz Vipers: Is There a Chance for Me (Independent)
Professor Longhair: The Bach of Rock (Sunset Blvd)
Some Antics: Some Antics (Independent)
The Write Brothers: Into the Sky (Threadhead Records)
Various Artist: Boppin’ by the Bayou: Feel So Good, Volume 22 (Ace)
Various Artist: Cry You One (Soundtrack) (ArtSpot)
Various Artists: Prison Music Project Sessions (featuring Ani DiFranco, Terence Higgins, Zoe Boekbinder, and more)(Righteous Babe Records)
Johnny Vidacovich: ’bout Time  (Independent)