Now in its fourth year, the Acadiana Film Festival continues to showcase both out-of-town and local independent filmmakers. Conceived as a film expo and dubbed the International Digital In-Development Expo, the festival has shifted more towards the exchange of ideas, with workshops focusing on cinematography and auditioning for films. “We changed the name,” says festival organizer Julie Bordelon, “to better reflect what we were trying to accomplish — to focus on independent films as well as bringing artists and industry professionals together in an atmosphere where they can network. My mother complained that she had just learned how to say iDiDx, it was rolling easily off her tongue, when we changed the name,” Bordelon adds with a laugh.
The festival is also designed to bring filmakers from outside Lafayette to experience the community and the culture. “Hopefully, they’ll come back here to shoot their next film,” says Bordelon.
The festival takes place at a variety of venues. LITE, Cite des Arts, the Acadiana Center for Film and Media and The Office all host screenings, workshops and panels and the festival schedule incorporates Downtown Alive! as a lively element of Lafayette’s music culture. Attendant friendly as well, the entire festival is free.
Here are some of the film festival’s highlights:
Thursday, November 11
Final Cut Studio For Independent Filmmakers Presented by: Cinematic Arts Workshop Thursday, November, 11th, 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. | LITE, 537 Cajundome Boulevard This seminar will cover the basics of system configuration and maintenance, workflows used by professional editors, as well as techniques that can help save the professional editor time, and help increase creativity. Ben Balser will also cover workflows for both ingesting and outputting for various media formats. This will be an intense 3 hours sure to help both intermediate and beginning editors alike. This seminar is free and open to the public on a first come first serve basis.
Friday, November 12
The Role Of The Actor Friday, November, 12th, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. | ACFM, 700 Lee Street Information on the casting process and how to prepare for auditions presented by Dax Allen, CEO/President of 4-Show.biz. Dax has 10 years of management, operations and business development experience in multiple industries including: financial, web development, graphic design, insurance, importing, Publishing, Casting and Film Production and Digital Media. This workshop is free and open to the public. Please register online.
Animation Filmmaking Roundtable Diccussion Friday, November 12th, 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. | ACFM, 700 Lee Street Special guest, Max Howard, who created and ran studios for Disney in London, Paris, Orlando and Los Angeles, working on some of Disney’s most memorable films, including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. As president of Warner Bros Feature Animation, he oversaw such hit movies as The Iron Giant and Space Jam. At DreamWorks, he was co-executive producer for Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron. He is currently president of Exodus Film Group, specializing in the production of independent animated feature films. Also speaking is, Marty Altman, who’s credits include the feature films Mulan and Lilo and Stitch as well as the Pooh’s Hunny Hunt attraction for Tokyo Disneyland while Technical Director at Walt Disney Feature Animation and the Superman Returns game while Technical Art Director at Electronic Arts. This event is free and open to the public on a first come first serve basis.
Horror Night: Friday, November, 12th, 9:00 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. | Cite Des Arts, 109 Vine Street Wick (17 mins) Nightmarish visions plague a young woman who cannot remember trauma inflicted by her past. Will these monsters reveal the truth or destroy her fragile mind? AM1200 (39 mins) A man hears a radio broadcast that may or may not be a distress call lures him to an isolated transmitting station and into a terrifying mystery of murder, madness and the insatiable hunger of a power beyond his comprehension. Night Of The Punks (19 mins) Small town punk rockers “The Brain Deads” have their first out of town gig. But there are a few problems: The venue is deserted, the promoter is a total creep, their bass player has gone missing and the only kids in the audience are blood thirsty demons from hell. It’s going to take a lot more than a few power chords and teenage angst to survive this night. Zone Of The Dead (2012: Apocalypse of the Dead) (96 mins) with special guest, Ken Foree (Dawn Of The Dead) When a biochemical toxin infects a small industrial town in Serbia, Interpol agents who have to transport a prisoner across that area have no choice but to join forces with a dangerous criminal if they want to survive. This event is free and open to the public on a first come first serve basis.
Saturday, November 13
Ballhawks (74 mins) Saturday, November, 13th, 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. | LITE, 537 Cajundome Boulevard Ballhawks is the story of a group of men who have been chasing baseballs and dreams just outside the ivy-covered walls of Wrigley Field, the the last ninety years. This screening is free and open to the public on a first come first serve basis.
The Business Of Screenwriting Roundtable Discussion Saturday, November 13th, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | ACFM, 700 Lee Street Led by Tony Chassion along side, Producer/Writer, Eric Miller. Miller has logged over twenty years in the movie business, specializing in Independent film in the U.S. and in many foreign countries. His scripts “The Shadow Men”, “Ice Spiders”, “Night Skies”, and “Maskerade” have been made into feature films. This event is free and open to the public on a first come first serve basis.
Sunday, November 14
Feed The Fish (92 mins) Sunday, November, 14th, 11:30 a.m. - 1:05 p.m. | LITE, 537 Cajundome Boulevard Joe Peterson, is a burned-out kids book writer who’s approaching his mid-life crisis. With his career at a standstill and his relationship in shambles, he leaves town with his best buddy to do the Polar Bear Plunge in the dead of winter in northern Wisconsin in an attempt to reignite his fire. On his quest he meets: Axel, an inspirational mentor; The Sheriff, an obsessed law enforcement professional; and Sif, his muse and a hockey player. Good thing they’re all related! Joe finds his lost passion, survives an assault by his obsessed ex-girlfriend, and tries to stay out of the way of the law. He pulls it together and finally gets the girl, and thank goodness, publishes again. But not before testing the icy waters of Lake Michigan on a snowy winter day. This screening is free and open to the public on a first come first serve basis.
In rendering his ruling, District Judge John Trahan all but called the real estate developer a liar for inconsistencies in his accounts of what prompted him to punch a school teacher unconscious.
Frank’s Casing Crew, now doing business as Frank’s International, will make its final appearance on ABiz’s list of the Top 50 Privately Held Companies in Acadiana this year, and once again, it will likely be at the top with more than $1 billion in annual revenues. The 75-year-old company specializing in tubular fabrication and installation services to the oil and gas industry plans to go public this year.
The defeat, or rather highjacking of House Bill 420 in the final days of this year's Legislative Session, say Reps. Vincent Pierre and Terry Landry, is the result of the propaganda spread by one unidentified local media outlet and an unnamed former state Representative, but nothing to do with the original legislation's lack of checks, balances or details.
City-Parish Council Chairman Brandon Shelvin heaped steady doses of condescending ire on a Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana executive while failing to reveal his financial ties to a BC/BS rival.
Abbeville native David Primeaux was a popular professor until his death late last year, and while he was successful at camouflaging a dark past, he couldn’t outlive it.
Tehmi Chassion’s failure to recuse himself in the school board’s selection of a group health benefits provider raises ‘serious questions’ on whether he violated state ethics law.
He’s a singer. A songwriter. A piano man. A family man. He’s even got his own Wikipedia entry. He’s David Egan. And he knows ancient secrets about the monolithic stones of Stonehenge that he’s not willing to share.
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