For the very first time, EoM is covering the New Orleans Film Festival! With this being our first time, we decided to put together a shortlist of films I’d be interested in seeing that might be good to have on your radar, as well.
**These recommendations are based solely on their intriguing film summaries.**
The 2024 New Orleans Film Festival takes place in in-person from October 16th – 22nd and virtually from October 16th – October 27th. In-person screenings take place at the CAC Warehouse Theater.
Boca Chica
Twelve-year-old Desi dreams of becoming a famous singer while working at her family’s restaurant in Boca Chica with her aunt Nena and mother Carmen. Her dreams are threatened by child prostitution in town, highlighted when her friend Luz stops attending choir practice and goes out scantily clad at night. Desi, gifted with synesthesia, immerses herself in music. Her brother Fran, a struggling musician in New York, returns home for cousin Elvis’ wedding after hitting rock bottom. He confronts his sexuality, past love for Elvis, and realizes he’s Desi’s only hope for achieving her dreams: dreams that are tied to a family lie about their relation to merengue legend Luciano Vasquez. As family secrets unravel, Desi must find her voice to overcome town adversaries.
Ch’ul Be, Sacred Path
Ch’ul Be delves into the Tsotsil sacred path, exploring ancient collective commitments that sustain the cycle of life in community. In San Andres Larrainzar, everyone is responsible for the collective well-being, but few are chosen to follow the path of serving the gods. ”Ch’ul be” is the path of Martha and Diego, and of Román and his son Tino. It is a journey from the everyday to the divine, from the individual to the collective, to ensure that knowledge is not lost and the cycle is not broken.
Eastern Western
Igor, a recent immigrant and widower, struggles to raise his two-year-old son somewhere in the mountains of the American Frontier. The harsh winter tests Igor’s parenting and survival skills. Duncan, an acquaintance who brings him occasional provisions, offers Igor the chance to join his family’s horse business and travel further West for better opportunities. Igor struggles with the idea of leaving his home, but knows it is the right choice for the sake of his son’s future. At Duncan’s ranch, Igor learns horsemanship and Ivo is nurtured by the family. As the family’s journey out West begins, they encounter both friend and foe, and Duncan is left with a decision that will affect the family’s future forever.
The In Between
Following the death of her brother, filmmaker Robie Flores returns to her hometown Eagle Pass on the Texas-Mexico border, wanting to turn back time. She collides with unruly experiences of adolescence – quinceañeras, Rio Grande river excursions, teen makeovers and beyond – that invite her to soak up the details of the home her brother adored and she ignored. What emerges is a playful dance between a personal and collective coming-of-age portrait of kids on the border and Robie herself as she rediscovers the possibilities of joy in the aftermath of grief.
A scene from THE IN BETWEEN. Photo courtesy of New Orleans Film Festival.
A King Like Me
A King Like Me follows members of the Zulu Club, New Orleans’ first Black Mardi Gras krewe, as they work to bring the Zulu parade back to the streets for Mardi Gras Day 2022, in the face of a global pandemic, Hurricane Ida and the loss of members due to COVID and gun violence. This documentary’s unprecedented access to a stalwart community and cultural institution creates a modern portrait of Black brotherhood, leadership and community.
A scene from A KING LIKE ME. Photo courtesy of New Orleans Film Festival.
The Motherload
Conflict among the mother-daughter duo arises when Jessca embarks on a quest to find a home that once belonged to her mother’s family during pre-war Vietnam. Kim (Jessca’s mother), happy in her new but precarious position in America, fights to stay stateside. As their desires cause them to grow apart they are faced with old myths about the motherland, depicted in a public-broadcasting television show. With a cast consisting only of two Vietnamese-American women re-enacting and satirizing scenes from celebrated Vietnam War films while depicting a diasporic reality, this movie takes a closer look at what has been lost in war, what we find in the rubble, and how to hold on to what remains.
Mysterious Behaviors
A naïve, shapeshifting extraterrestrial embeds herself on campus to research the mysterious behaviors of Earthling college students. Through her mistakes and misadventures, twisted relationships and a tortuous romance, she learns that humans aren’t as primitive as she at first believed.
A scene from MYSTERIOUS BEHAVIORS. Photo courtesy of New Orleans Film Festival.
Removal of the Eye
New parents Ram and Kallia are at their wits’ end with their sleepless baby Niko. Their world is further upended when Kallia’s father suffers a freak accident, and they become primary caretakers for her ailing mother, Katerina, who lives downstairs. Convinced that the family’s misfortunes have been caused by the evil eye, Katerina insists on performing an ancient exorcism to save the family, to Kallia and Ram’s dismay. As chaos brews, the couple are tossed between the pressures of modern parenting, age-old superstitions, and the brutal market for creative work. This thrilling comedy explores the challenges of multicultural families, the clash between individualism and tradition, and the universal struggles of new parenthood.
A scene from REMOVAL OF THE EYE. Photo courtesy of New Orleans Film Festival.
Rowdy Friends
Residents of a North Carolina halfway house take matters into their own hands when a roommate suspiciously disappears. Led by a cast of first-time actors, recovering addicts and ex-cons, this blend of fact, fiction and genre offers an unhinged look at life on the American margins.
A scene from ROWDY FRIENDS. Photo courtesy of New Orleans Film Festival.
Who in the Hell is Regina Jones?
The extraordinary life of Regina Jones is one not only shaped by history, but also one that made history. From pregnant and married at 15, through the middle of the Watts Rebellion of 1965, to emerging as a groundbreaking newspaper publisher, Regina is a testament to the American experience.
That lived experience, as a Black American woman raising a family of five children, stepping in places where she was not wanted, and navigating a world that offered her no favors, is one that is still too often overlooked. Who in the Hell is Regina Jones turns a lens on Regina’s remarkable journey – the invisible labor, the turmoil, struggle, and the joy of a modern-day Black woman.
About New Orleans Film Festival:
The New Orleans Film Society (NOFS) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization committed to promote, nurture, and amplify the diverse voices of filmmakers and to facilitate conversations through film and film-related programming that inspire, educate, challenge and entertain our audiences.
NOFS produces the Oscar®-qualifying New Orleans Film Festival annually and invests year-round in building a vibrant film culture in the South and connecting dynamic Southern filmmakers to career-advancing resources. Year-round programming includes free and low-cost screenings for members and the broader community of cinephiles in New Orleans, a 27-year running French Film Festival featuring contemporary and classic French cinema, and filmmaker professional development programs created to nurture diverse and emerging filmmakers and producers in the American South.
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Categories: Coming Soon, Recommendation
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