About Cinema on the Bayou
Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival is committed to advancing the understanding of Cajun and Creole cultures through film screenings, film panels and cultural exchanges among French Louisiana, the United States and the Francophone countries of the world. The festival is focused on presenting nationally and internationally acclaimed humanities themed documentaries and filmmakers with truly original voices. Cinema on the Bayou will also showcase new, cutting edge, fiction and non-fiction films from around the world in a relaxing environment, laced and embellished with Cajun culture's unique identity markers, exquisite cuisine and great music.
About Cinema on the Bayou
Pat Mire, Artistic Director
Rebecca Hudsmith, Festival Director
Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival 2008 was a very special event with filmmakers in attendance from New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Marksville, New York, Philadelphia, Memphis, and Los Angeles, including well-known roots music documentary filmmaker Robert Mugge. The Festival screened over 30 films, including a retrospective of Mr. Mugge's films, a series of classic Southern Roots Culture Documentaries and a day of French language films. Scholars participating in panel discussions of the films presented included Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque, Barry Ancelet, Ray Brassieur, John Laudun and Conni Castille. The Festival presented awards to Carl Brasseaux and Barry Ancelet in recognition of their contributions to the promotion of Cajun and Creole cultures in film, as well as to Robert Mugge for his work in documenting roots music. The award for best cinematography was shared by two films: the documentary "Nobody" by Memphis filmmakers Alan Spearman and Lance Murphey and the narrative fiction film "Arizona Seaside" by Los Angeles filmmaker Pil Pilegaard.
Beginning in 2008, the annual five-day Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival moved to March, the month "La Francophonie." Beginning in 2009, the Festival will be competitive. The long-term goal is for Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival to be sanctioned by the Academy of Sciences and Motion Pictures within 5-7 years and also to become a world-class point of destination for filmmakers, film enthusiasts and tourists from around the globe.
Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival is funded, in part, with grants from The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the Acadiana Arts Council Decentralized Arts Funding Program and the Consulat General de France a La Nouvelle-Orleans.
Community partners include Celebrity Theatres - Broussard, Cite des Arts, Pack and Paddle, Teche Theater Music Hall and Recording Studio, Acadiana Center for Film and Media, the Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, KRVS, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Folkstreams, the Southern Humanities Media Fund, and the National Film Board of Canada-ONF.
Festival sponsors include Hotel Acadiana, Don's Seafood Downtown, and Randol's Restaurant.
The 2007 festival's red carpet opening night screening of "Little Chenier" drew more than 700 in attendance, along with the film's director, screenwriter and several actors
2007 Festival Film Scoring Panel: David Greely, Pat Mire, Dirk Powell and Sam Broussard.
Photos by Cinema on the Bayou 2006 official photographer Robin May. Click any to enlarge.
Panel discussion at Lafayette Natural History Museum. From left to right: Cajun folklorist Barry Ancelet and filmmakers Jean-Pierre Bruneau, Glen Pitre, Andre Gladu and Pat Mire. These four filmmakers are internationally recognized by the global film community as the primary film documenters of French-Louisiana culture, and Ancelet has served as research consultant with each of the directors at various times throughout the past 30 years.
Dinner and a movie at the Little Flower Auditorium in Arnaudville
Filmmaker Q. and A. at Bayou Bijou
Film screening at Cite des Arts