A teenager, disinterested in her Louisiana Creole heritage, finds herself having to entertain a visitor who only speaks what sounds like French. She’ll discover how magical it can be to connect with one's heritage.
National Film Board of Canada documentary of stories of Acadians (French Canadians from the eastern Maritime provinces). Hundreds of thousands of Acadians emigrated to Louisiana following deportation by the British during the Acadian Expulsion of the mid-18th century, hence the term 'Cajun.'
A gay man living through the HIV/AIDS crisis reflects upon his recent history of loss with the help of his grandmother, who tells him a story of her own trauma and loss during the Jim Crow-era South.
Mainly through the voice of family patriarch Joe Judice, Sugar in Their Blood follows a family of 7th generation Louisiana sugarcane farmers as they struggle with all of the challenges inherit in staying in business. It's a story of pride and resilience in the face of constantly changing conditions, both in terms of business and climate.
Bad Boy of Bonsai is an experimental art-house documentary that focuses on Guy Guidry, a Louisiana local, and his passion for bonsai.
The Atchafalaya is a mysterious land, as much underwater as above. Its lush environment is home to alligators, egrets, black bears – and for a time two people who yearned for a simple, natural life. Atchafalaya Houseboat shares the experiences of Gwen Roland and her companion Calvin Voisin, who left civilization in the turmoil of the early 1970s for the unspoiled beauty of the nation’s largest river swamp, Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin.
Horror Movie features authentic evidence of a bipedal entity living deep in the swamps of Louisiana. A three day swamp excursion becomes a real life horror movie as experienced nature enthusiasts encounter a large, hostile, bipedal beast. This real footage is beyond belief and sheds light on a mysterious, demonic entity lurking deep within in the shadows of the swamp. Undiscovered, until now.
Shot on location in rural Southwestern Louisiana, Zydeco combines cinema verite style footage, interviews and musical performance to present a colorful, joyful portrait of the zydeco musicians in their culture. Featuring Dolon Carriere, Armand Ardoin, and Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin. A film by Nicholas R. Spitzer. Color, 57 minutes.
From the camera of celebrated French documentarians Jean-Pierre Bruneau and Jose Reynes, and in the tradition of The Buena Vista Social Club, comes the exhilarating musical documentary Louisiana Blues. From the backwoods of Baton Rouge to the heart the Big Easy, creole and Cajun music have endured despite years of tumult. This film explores not only the musicians who continue to produce this music, but the climate, culture, and way of life that have shaped them. Innumerable zydeco superstars appear onscreen and deliver legendary performances, including Beau Jocque, D.L. Menard, and Zydeco Joe.
The life story of Pulitzer Prize winning author John Kennedy Toole as told by friends and colleagues. Legacy format production, representational photography and an original music score combine to bring the author's life into focus. His personal triumphs, his untimely death and the publication of the novel, 'A Confederacy of Dunces,' years after his suicide are all explored in this darkly beautiful first person narrative.
It’s a language and a way of life that reminds us of the past. What was once on the brink of extinction is now in some parts of our state flourishing. CODOFIL, The Council for the Development of French in Louisiana is celebrating its 50th anniversary and through these years has played a major role in the renaissance of Louisiana’s French heritage language and culture.
A contemporary portrait of a small Louisiana town created at the site of the world’s largest lumber mill. Captured here in its last days after thirty years, Miss Dixie Gallaspy conducts a charm school for girls in order to teach the young women of Bogalusa the social graces and skills that would guide them into “Ladyhood”. Dixie’s week long school, in a town confronted with many challenges (including a legacy of racial conflict and financial dissipation) preserves fragments of a world that may already be lost.
Head to southern Louisiana with filmmaker Matthew Wilkinson to soak up one of the country's best-kept musical secrets: Lil' Band o' Gold, a group of seasoned musicians who churn out an eclectic blend of country, R & B and zydeco known as swamp pop. This lively documentary follows blues-rock legend C.C. Adcock as he scours the marshes and prairies of Acadiana to assemble a supergroup of diverse personalities, backgrounds and musical styles.
Take to the streets of New Orleans by horse drawn carriage and visit some of the city's most popular attractions including a stop at Café Dumond, the French Quarter & Jackson Square. At the School of Cooking you'll learn as much about history as you will food. In the evening, Bourbon Street comes alive with jazz musicians and tourists. Journey by rail on the country's oldest streetcars past the elegant and historic mansions of the Garden District. Birdwatchers delight in the Creole Nature Trail where dozens of species of exotic birds can be seen including spoonbills and different types of ibis.
Louisiana filmmaker, Pat Mire, teams up with veteran filmmaker and cinematographer, Charles Bush, to capture the natural drama of handfishing in this award-winning documentary. Highly visual, the film examines the thrilling regional phenomenon of Cajuns who wade in murky bayou waters to catch huge catfish and turtles by reaching into hollow logs and stumps with their bare hands. Friends and family accompany the handfisherman to the bayou banks for Cajun music, festive cooking, and storytelling, and to witness this increasingly rare tradition. Told from the inside with multiple voices, Mire and Bush explore the chain of events set off by man's attempt to "improve" his environment by dredging bayous in this remarkable study of the relationship between cultural and natural resources.
For 170 years, a Native American community has occupied Isle de Jean Charles, a tiny island deep in the bayous of Louisiana. They have fished, hunted, and lived off the land. Now the land that has sustained them for generations is vanishing before their eyes. Coastal erosion, sea level rise, and increasing storms are overwhelming the island. Over the last fifty years, Isle de Jean Charles has been gradually shrinking, and it is now almost gone. For these Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians, their land is more than simply a place to live. It is the epicenter of their people and traditions. They now must prepare to say goodbye to the place, where, for eight generations, their ancestors cultivated a unique part of Louisiana culture.
Louisiana's governor asks war hero Francis C. Grevemberg (Keith Andes) to lead the state police against corruption.
Humorist Roy Blount Jr. takes viewers on a journey down the Mississippi River, showcasing everything from areas with spectacularly beautiful scenery to ugly and dangerously polluted stretches bordered by industrial development.
Born on Halloween, 1935, Dale Brown's fight for justice began the day his father walked out - two days before he was born.About how an overachiever from tiny Minot, North Dakota relentlessly fought his way to the top.