13th Annual Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival

Founded in 2006 by filmmaker Pat Mire, Cinema on The Bayou came to life after Hurricane Katrina devastated the greater New Orleans area, calling for the cancellation of the 2005 New Orleans Film Festival. Since its year of reckoning, Cinema on the Bayou has hosted a plethora of films, many of which have gone on to be nominated for Academy Awards -- “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” by Shreveporter William Joyce won The Audience Award before even being nominated by the Academy Awards -- or garnered large enough crowds to be hosted in local theaters; the Louisiana premiere of “Little Chenier” drew in over 800 people for its red carpet event hosted at the Broussard Celebrity theater.

By the fourth year, the festival had drawn in national interest, hosting films from filmmakers across the country and by its fifth year, international attention came with films from Canada.

 The film festival has continued to grow and in its 13th year, brought in over 180 films, the most since the festival's birth, to be featured at five separate venues over the course of eight days; Jan. 24-31.

This international acclaimed southern based film festival provides filmmakers and directors with the opportunity to win several different awards over the week of the festival. The 2018 festival has seven possible genres; Experimental Short, Student, Animation, Documentary Short, Documentary Feature, Narrative Short, and Narrative Feature. Films can win Best Actor, Director’s Choice Award in their film genre, Audience Award, and Inspiration award as well as Best Narrative Feature, just to name a few.

Over the eight days, the festival is going on the films will be presented at five separate venues across the Acadiana area;  Acadiana Center for the Arts, Vermilionville, Lafayette Public Library South Regional Branch, Cité des Arts, Lafayette Parish Library Main Branch - Downtown, and the Hilliard University Art Museum. Prices vary per film, but a vast majority of the films are selling tickets for $5 a pop. Vermilionville and Cité des Arts are offering $20 day passes for those who intend to spend their day at the festival bouncing between the two locations. Also, check the schedules because, throughout the festival, the $20 deal changes between venues daily.

The 2018 Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival kicks off on January 24th at 6:30 pm  at the Acadiana Center for the Arts with the world premiere screening of “Rifles & Rosary Beads”, a short documentary about “the power of turning trauma into art” according to the film’s bayou posted on the festival’s website.

For those who are looking for more information on the festival, their lineups can be found on the festival’s website, cinemaonthebayou.com. They have downloadable schedules and link to purchase tickets online.