Louisiana International Film Festival Lines Up Promising Commencement

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 17 April 2013 18:49

Written by Matt Oakes

This year’s inaugural Louisiana International Film Festival (LIFF) has a triple-pronged set of conditions for the films which will play during the four day festival, running April 18-21: Francophilia, environmentalism and music. However eclectic these prerequisites may be, they cut to the heart of the swamp lands of Louisiana.

In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon spill which rocked the many industries of coastal Louisiana, those behind the festival want to promote a message of environmental responsibility. With a culture strongly rooted in jazz music, the finest of shellfish and endless, raunchy parties, it’s no wonder that LIFF is curtailing their first festival after what means the most to them.

The curtains officially goes up on LIFF at the Joy Theater in New Orleans with “Twenty Feet from Stardom”, a documentary by Morgan Neville that aims the spotlight at the oft-unnoticed backup singers for some of the world’s best talent. The film will feature interviews by Stevie Wonder, Mick Jagger, Sheryl Crowe and Bette Midler as they talk about these unsung stars living in the periphery of stardom.

After this opening day film, LIFF will pack up and jump ship to Baton Rouge for the remainder of its screenings. Day one in Baton Rouge will include a free day-long event, Producers’ Conference & Industry Expo at the Celtic Media Centre, inside a converted sound stage. Guests can attend a host of workshops for acting, music, development, production incentives and film financing each hosted by professionals of the industry.

Other notable entries to the festival include:

• By and By: New Orleans At The Crossroads, a world premiere from Matthew T. Bowden and Joe Compton about a powerful New Orleans gospel quartet, the Electrifying Crown Seekers.
  
  
• Boxing Day starring Danny Huston and Matthew Jacobs which tells a modern day revisiting of Leo Tolstoy’s “Master and Man”. This US premiere will be attended by director Bernard Rose.
  
  
• Goro Mayazaki’s From Up on Poppy Hill, written by father/acclaimed animated-maestro Hayao Mayazaki, will showcase the next generation of Japanese animated aesthetics.

For more information, visit: http://www.lifilmfest.org/home

Louisiana International Film Festival
April 18-21, 2013

Joy Theater
1200 Canal St
New Orleans, LA

Celtic Media Centre
10000 Celtic Dr
Baton Rouge, LA

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