Julie Frigault and Dominque Léger, who attended the screening of their film at COTB 2019.
Radio-Canada, Jan. 9, 2019
The full interview on Radio-Canada:
COTB 2019 on Radio Canada
Julie Frigault et Dominique Léger présenteront leur film COURAGE! lors du 14 e festival « Cinema on the Bayou », à Lafayette.
Créé dans le cadre du Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie, le court métrage met en vedette les comédiennes Céleste Godin et Florence Brunet dans le rôle de deux amies et collègues qui développent des sentiments l'une pour l'autre et qui hésitent à faire le premier pas.
By John Wirt
Special to The Advocate
Jan. 19, 2019
The 14th annual Cinema on the Bayou, which runs Wednesday through Jan. 30, in Lafayette will present 181 films, nearly all of them Louisiana premieres. The state’s second largest film festival will also feature world and United States premieres.
“When we have a world premiere, it’s a big deal for our festival,” said the festival's director, Rebecca Hudsmith. “It means that we’re launching a film’s festival run.”
Cinema on the Bayou will take place at the Acadiana Center for the Arts and other venues around Lafayette. The nonprofit, volunteer-run festival also features filmmaker Q&As, music, parties, panel discussions and workshops.
The festival’s 2019 world premieres include “And Those Who Dance It Surrender Their Hearts To Each Other,” a documentary about Lone Piñon, a group of young New Mexico musicians who perform traditional works from the Southwest.
It's a story that resonates in Acadiana.
“It’s about saving traditional music and culture in New Mexico,” Hudsmith said. “That’s what our Cajun musicians are about, so there’s a real connection. It’s a beautiful film with music that I wasn’t even aware of.”
Another world premiere, “Finding Cajun,” examines the origin and evolution of Cajun identity over the past 70 years. Nathan Rabalais, a Eunice native who is assistant professor of French and Francophone studies at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, directed the documentary. It screens at 7 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Acadiana Center for the Arts.
“Finding Cajun,” said Pat Mire, Cinema on the Bayou founder and artistic director, presents a fresh take on the Cajun experience.
“It’s a young perspective on the culture,” Mire said. “Things have changed dramatically in the past 15 or 20 years. More young people want to speak French.”
Mire’s own award-winning documentaries include “Dirty Rice” and “Against the Tide: The Story of the Cajun People of Louisiana.”
“We’re excited,” Hudsmith said, “that a new generation of young scholars and filmmakers are continuing to do what others started, including Pat Mire.”
True to Cinema on the Bayou’s southwest Louisiana roots, more than 60 of the festival’s films are in French. The festival is furthering its French connection through partnerships with two major Canadian festivals, Les Percéides Festival International de Cinéma et d’ art de Percé and the Québec City Film Festival.
Opening night film “Black Indians,” screening at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 23 at the Acadiana Center for the Arts, links New Orleans and France. Four years in the making, the documentary depicts the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans.
Already screened throughout France, “Black Indians” will receive its U.S. premiere at Cinema on the Bayou. Patrouilleau, the film’s Paris-based co-writer-director, will be among the more than 200 directors, producers, cinematographers, actors and other film professionals from France, Canada, the U.S., Australia, Japan and Lebanon in attendance.
“We have a warm festival here,” Mire said. “We try to welcome everyone."
Friends of Hudsmith and Mire in Paris recommended that the makers of “Black Indians” submit their film to Cinema on the Bayou.
“There have been other films about the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians," Hudsmith said, "but this one comes from the French perspective. And it’s a film with a Louisiana connection, which we love. We also feel like our festival starts the Mardi Gras season. So, we usually have a least one Mardi Gras film. And we always want to show culturally significant projects.”
Judges at the 2019 festival include prominent members of Quebec’s filmmaking community, among them Montréal writer-director Marc-André Forcier (“Coteau Rouge.” “The Countess of Baton Rouge,” “A Wind from Wyoming”).
“I’m excited about that,” Mire said. “It says that we are the go-to festival for Canadian filmmakers. They passed up Sundance and other festivals to come here. It’s the French-Louisiana connection again. And they fall in love with our food and music.”
Musicians performing at the festival include two local bands, Yvette Landry and the Jukes and Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars, and a singer-songwriter from New Brunswick, Canada, Daniel Léger.
“Music is a key element of this festival,” Mire said. “And it’s not just musicians playing at the festival, it’s the filmmakers drifting to venues beyond the festival.”
Films in competition at Cinema on the Bayou are eligible to win one of festival’s Goujon Caille awards. Local artists Pat and Andre Juneau create the colorful catfish-shaped statuettes.
This year also includes the festival’s first artist in residence, John Blouin. A filmmaker from Quebec, he’s brought an installation to the Acadiana Center for the Arts.
Tickets to individual screenings are $5, except for "Black Indians" ($20) and "Finding Cajun" ($10). Eight-day passes are $100; day passes are $10-$20. More information about the festival is available at cinemaonthebayou.com.
Cinema on the Bayou on Radio-Canada
Gaspésie filmmaker Moïse Marcoux-Chabot, who won a "goujon caille" award, is interviewed by Radio-Canada following his visit to Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival.
Radio Canada
Posted on March 23rd, 2016 by The Audience Awards
AudNews is proud to present Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival and Festival Artistic Director Pat Mire.
What is your film festival’s mission?
Located in the heart of Cajun country, the annual Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival (COTB) is dedicated to presenting narrative, documentary and animated films and filmmakers with truly original voices in one of the friendliest, most unique cultures in the world. COTB is also committed to insuring that the Festival emphasizes both established and emerging filmmakers and the relationship-building that is crucial to their continued work.
What role does your film festival play in supporting your film’s community?
The word is out among independent filmmakers that we have a top notch film festival that is very competitive and super fun with great food and music and that means we bring really good films and the filmmakers who make them here to Lafayette, Louisiana each January for the benefit of the community, the culture and the film industry in Louisiana.
What is something people look forward to every year at your film festival?
Over the years, the festival has earned the respect of its many loyal filmmaker alums who come from around the world to share in the joie de vivre that defines the culture here. It says a lot about the festival that these highly talented independent filmmakers not only make repeat visits to COTB, but also recommend the festival to their filmmaker colleagues.
The festival is committed to creating these essential connections amid exquisite Cajun cuisine, amazing local music performances, and thought-provoking discussions, both on expert panels and at after-hours parties, about all that is near and dear to that creature known as the independent filmmaker.
How long has your film festival been around? How did your film festival come into being?
Cinema on the Bayou, Louisiana’s second oldest film festival, was founded in 2006 in Lafayette, Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina caused the cancellation of the New Orleans Film Festival in the fall of 2005. I was contacted by the National Film Board of Canada, which offered a U.S. premiere of the documentary by famed Quebecois filmmaker Andre Gladu, “Maroon,” originally scheduled to premiere in New Orleans. Cinema on the Bayou was launched in response, and Gladu and his film opened the inaugural Festival, which screened more than 40 films.
Since 2006, Cinema on the Bayou has presented hundreds of internationally acclaimed documentary, narrative fiction and animated films, with filmmakers in attendance from across the United States and around the world. The Festival is now unique among film festivals in the U.S. in that it also regularly screens a large number of French-language independent films and presents filmmakers from throughout the Francophone world. COTB has the distinction among film festivals of having given the Audience Award to Moonbot Studio’s animated film “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” one year before the film was nominated for, and won an Academy Award in the animated short category.
The 2016 festival lineup of 198 films was chosen from a pool of more than 1,200 submissions, including 27 narrative features and 24 documentary features, 99 narrative shorts, 30 documentary shorts and 18 animated shorts. The vast majority of the films were World, U.S. or Louisiana Premieres. Included within the official selections were more than 30 French-language films and 20 films from Japan, as well as films from Nepal, India, Australia, the Dominican Republic, the U.K., Algeria, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Argentina, Canada and France.
What do you want audiences to take away from your film festival?
Perhaps our festival director, Rebecca Hudsmith, said it best about our 2016 line-up, “I am so proud of the quality and breadth of the films screened this year.” “From the Canadian Yukon to the mountains of Nepal to the streets of Tokyo to the wetlands of Louisiana, these films present heartfelt stories that entertained us, yes, but they also enriched our lives.”
Anything else you’d like to tell the audience about your festival?
Film submissions for the 12th Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival (January, 2017) will open March 25, 2016. Festival passes and ticket information for the general public will be available on our website in May, 2016. For filmmakers whose films are accepted, Cinema on the Bayou offers all-access passes for the filmmakers and complimentary lodging for up to four days for filmmakers traveling from outside the United States and for up to two days for filmmakers traveling from outside Louisiana. The Festival also offers plenty of after-hours food and drink. I tell them that, “we weigh them when they arrive and again when they leave, and I promise you, no one looses weight at Cinema on the Bayou!”
The Audience Awards provides filmmakers opportunities to create short video content for brands and win money. Sign up today for your free account and join film’s community.
Photo Courtesy of Lee CelanoCinema on the Bayou Film Society is excited to announce the 11th Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival’s award winners and nominees. The annual Festival has grown from five to eight days, screening 198 films at this year’s Festival held on Jan. 20-27, 2016. In addition, over 200 directors, producers, distributors, actors and other industry professionals attended the festival from across the United States and Canada, as well as from Japan, Australia and France.
“The word is out among independent filmmakers that we have a top notch film festival that is very competitive and super fun with great food and music,” says Cinema on the Bayou Film Society President and Artistic Director Pat Mire, “and that means we bring really good films and the filmmakers who make them here to Acadiana each January for the benefit of the community, the culture and the film industry in Louisiana.”
The 2016 festival lineup was chosen from a total pool of more than 1,200 submissions, a record number for the Festival, including 27 narrative features and 24 documentary features, as well as 99 narrative shorts, 30 documentary shorts, and 18 animated shorts. The majority of the films were World, U.S. or Louisiana Premieres. Included within the official selections are more than 30 French-language films and 20 films from Japan, as well as films from Nepal, India, Australia, the Dominican Republic, the U.K., Algeria, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Argentina, Canada and France.
“I am so proud of the quality and breadth of the films we will screen this year,” says festival Director Rebecca Hudsmith. “From the Canadian Yukon to the mountains of Nepal to the streets of Tokyo to the wetlands of Louisiana, these films present heartfelt stories that will entertain, yes, but will also enrich our lives.”
Cinema on the Bayou Film Society, a non-profit Section 501(c)(3) Louisiana corporation, presents the annual Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival, Louisiana’s second oldest film festival, as well as other film events during the year. Major sponsors for Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival include the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission and IATSE Local 478 – Motion Picture Studio Mechanics of Louisiana & Southern Mississippi.
Our beloved “goujon caille” (spotted catfish) was awarded to the following winners:
DIRECTOR’S CHOICE AWARD
Award Winner:
Five Grand / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Directors: Tyler Graham Pavey and Orson Ossman
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Award Winner:
Paris-based Jean-Pierre Bruneau (in attendance)
LE TRAIN BLEU AWARD
Award Winner:
Melodyless Sonata / Japan / U.S. Premiere
Director: Yusaku Okamoto
INSPIRATION AWARD
Award Winner:
7th Generation / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: John-L Voth (San Diego-based producer Jim Warne in attendance)
AUDIENCE AWARD
Award Winner:
Voyagers Without Trace / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Ian McCluskey
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
Award Winner:
The Boatman / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: L.A.-based Greg Morgan (in attendance)
Special Jury Mention Awards:
Intersection / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Tim French (L.A.-based actor Hoyt Richards in attendance)
Cesium and a Tokyo Girl / Japan / U.S. Premiere
Director: Tokyo-based Ryo Saitani (in attendance)
The Three Es / U.S.A.
Director and Screenwriter: L.A.-based Jason Aaron Goldberg (in attendance)
Additional Nominees:
Alienated / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: N.Y.-based Brian Ackley (in attendance)
A Remarkable Life / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Colorado-based Vohn Regensburger (in attendance along with five producers and the director of photography)
Death On A Rock / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Scott Ballard
Dirty Beautiful / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Tim Bartell
Five Grand / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Directors: Tyler Graham Pavey and Orson Ossman
. . . In the Dark / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: David Spaltro (N.Y.-based actress Fiona Horrigan in attendance)
Owl River Runners / New Brunswick, Canada / U.S. Premiere
Director: Danny Thebeau (New Brunswick-based producer Elaine Shannon in attendance)
The Happiest Place on Earth / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Florida-based John Goshorn (in attendance)
Superior / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: L.A.-based Edd Benda (in attendance along with actor Paul Stanko)
The Sand Box / U.S.A. / World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Minnesota-based Jennifer Kramer (in attendance)
Writer’s Cramp / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: San Francisco-based Darva Campbell (in attendance)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Award Winner:
Chasing Bonnie & Clyde / France / World Premiere
Directors: Paris-based Olivier Lambert (in attendance) and Thomas Salva
Special Jury Mention Awards:
One Hundred Mules Walking The Los Angeles Aqueduct – Artist’s Cut 2015 / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Bruce Dickson (L.A.-based artist and writer Lauren Bon in attendance)
Yukon parle français / British Columbia, Canada / U.S. Premiere
Director: Jean Baillargeon
Additional Nominees:
Cimarron Spirit / Dominican Republic/U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Houston-based Ruben Duran (in attendance)
La Belle At The Movies / U.K. / U.S. Premiere
Director: Cecilia Zoppelletto
Sunakali / Nepal / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Bhojraj Bhat
Un film de chasse de filles (Girls on the Hunt) / Québec, Canada / U.S. Premiere
Director: Montréal-based Julie Lambert (in attendance)
Voyagers Without A Trace / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Ian McCluskey
Yazoo Revisited: Integration and Segregation in a Deep Southern Town / U.S.A.-Mississippi
Director: David Rae Morris (in attendance)
Zydeco Breakfast / U.S.A. / Southern U.S. Premiere
Director: Sante Fe-based Tom Uhl (in attendance)
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Award Winner:
Coureurs des toits (Roof Runners) / Québec/Canada / U.S. Premiere
Director: Montreal-based Helgi Piccinin (in attendance)
Special Jury Mention Awards:
Elle pis son char (A woman and her car) / Québec/Canada / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Loïc Darses
The Port of Indecision / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Danielle Eden
Additional Nominees:
Hell Runs on Gasoline / Québec, Canada / U.S. Premiere
Director: Martin Bureau
Paths / Québec, Canada / U.S. Premiere
Director: Jérémy Comte
The Valley of Quest / U.S.A. / World Premiere
Director: Maria Badia
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
Award Winner:
Never Steady, Never Still / Vancouver, B.C., Canada / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Kathleen Hepburn
Special Jury Mention Awards:
Bleu tonnerre (Blue thunder) / Québec, Canada / Louisiana Premiere
Directors: Jean-Marc E. Roy and Philippe David Gagné
Tadareru / Becomes Sore / Japan / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Keishi Suenaga
RSVP / U.S.A. / World Premiere
Director: Philadelphia-based Shannon Beeby (in attendance along with actors Ryan Jonze and Lance Marshall)
Other Nominees:
Abymée (The Trouble with Lucie) / France / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Charles Jacquard
Aestas (Summer) / Québec, Canada / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Montréal-based Guillaume Comtois (in attendance)
Air dari bulan (Water from the moon) / Indonesia, Singapore / U.S. Premiere
Director: Ellen Burns
A Period Drama / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: L.A.-based Kristine Gerolaga (in attendance with actor Steven Krimmel)
A Warm Spell / Japan / U.S. Premiere
Director: Toshimichi Saito
Dance, Dance, Dance / Japan, Belgium / U.S. Premiere
Director: Ken Ochaia
Dixie / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Atlanta-based Armaan Uplekar (in attendance)
Joseph Samuel Jacques Julien / Québec, Canada / Louisiana Premiere
Director: David Nadeau-Bernatchez
Keshinomi / Japan / U.S. Premiere
Director: Isamu Hirabayashi
Le silence du ciel (Lost Heaven) / Québec, Canada / U.S. Premiere
Director: Montréal-based Martin Legault (in attendance)
Lou, la vie! (Hey, Lou!) / Québec, Canada / U.S. Premiere
Director: Montréal-based John Blouin (in attendance)
Mature Young Adults / Ontario, Canada / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Kent Nolan
Mission / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Edward Tyndall
Modern Issues / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Houston-based Derrick Fury (in attendance)
Mother & Brother / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Dustin Cook
No Margrettes / U.S.A. / World Premiere
Director: Kansas City-based Matthew Dunehoo (in attendance)
Pinky / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Dylan Paffe
Pioneer High / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Suha Araj
Roubado / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Erica Watson
The Lot / U.S.A.-Louisiana
Director: Russell Blanchard
The Skull / U.S.A. / World Premiere
Director: N.Y.-based Graceann Dorse (in attendance)
The There / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Scott Cobb
The Whole Person / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Jonas Mayabb (with L.A.-based screenwriter and actor Darren Mangler in attendance)
This Uphill Climb / Japan / U.S. Premiere
Director: Tomoko Miyamoto
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Award Winner:
Taking Flight / U.S.A.-Louisiana
Director: Brandon Oldenburg
Special Jury Mention Awards:
4min15 au révélateur (4min15 in the Developer) / Québec, Canada / U.S. Premiere
Director: Montréal-based Moïa Jobin-Paré (in attendance)
Achiraka World / Japan / U.S. Premiere
Director: Atsushi Mishima
Between Times / Netherlands, U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Ru Kuwahata and Max Porte
Other Nominees:
Euclid’s Journey / U.S.A.-Louisiana / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Ian Cessna (in attendance)
La vie magnifique sous l’eau (The magnificent life underwater) / Québec, Canada / U.S. Premiere
Director: Montréal-based Joël Vaudreuil (in attendance)
L’enfant qui plantait de clous (The child that hammered nails) / Québec, Canada / U.S. Premiere
Director: Isabelle Kanapé
Simorgh / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Meghdad Asadi Lari
The Distant Touch / U.S.A. / Louisiana Premiere
Director: Jun Chen
Advocate file photo by LEE CELANO - Jefferson Bello, left, accepts the award for Best Documentary Feature for 'Samba and Jazz' with Gregg Stafford during the closing ceremony of the 2015 Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette.
When the annual Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival kicks off for the 11th time Wednesday night, it will likely be the biggest it has ever been.
The weeklong festival will be showing 198 films selected from more than 1,000 submissions from locales as far-flung as India, Hong Kong and Canada.
Cinema on the Bayou began in 2006 as an alternative to the New Orleans Film Festival, canceled that year in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Pat Mire, founder and artistic director of Cinema on the Bayou, said at the time he was already working on bringing a film festival to Lafayette.
He was contacted by the National Film Board of Canada to premier a movie by filmmaker Andre Gladu that was scheduled to premiere in New Orleans — and Cinema on the Bayou was born.
The festival has blossomed in recent years into a truly international film festival, Mire said, himself an award-winning local filmmaker.
It is now the second-oldest film festival in Louisiana, and in Mire’s opinion, the most interesting.
Mire and Festival Director Rebecca Hudsmith credit this to the incredible culture, generosity and intimacy that is expected of a festival coming from the heart of Cajun country.
Most of the increase in popularity of the festival can be credited to word of mouth from the alumni filmmakers, Mire said.
When they have a positive experience, they share it with other filmmakers, and Mire says he has a festival that truly caters to these artists.
Often his house can be filled with nearly 100 friends and filmmakers on nights during the festival, all drinking wine and chatting while Mire works on a gumbo into the early morning.
Mire said being from Louisiana “we forget how special this place is,” but for the filmmakers from around the world, the hospitality is unforgettable.
That intimacy is what makes Cinema on the Bayou special.
“They go see each others films, they get ideas and they share ideas. You know you are advancing a craft,” he said.
It is obvious Mire doesn’t consider his festival pretentious, despite some of the heavy-hitting films that screen at the event.
“This year we have a film that was short-listed at Sundance,” he said, yet in that same breath said everyone can still learn no matter how good his or her films are.
“Young filmmakers mix with veteran filmmakers — that’s beautiful,” he said. “You can see them talking, you can see the passion. A veteran can learn from a 22-year-old.”
The festival has been well-accepted by the community with the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Convention being a major funder.
In addition, the films are screened around town at Cité des Arts, the Acadiana Center for the Arts, Vermilionville, Pack & Paddle, Celebrity Theatres in Broussard and the Lafayette Parish Library main branch and south regional branch.
Tickets, films and times can be found online at the festival’s website, cinemaonthebayou.com or can be purchased at the door of the venues.
The opening night will take place at the Acadiana Center for the Arts and will feature free food and music with a cash bar.
Mire and Hudsmith both said the opening film, the documentary “Voyagers Without Trace”, is one not to miss.
The film, which is making its Louisiana premier, tells the story of a group of Frenchmen on the eve of World War II who decide to come to the United States and kayak the Colorado River, filming their adventure on 16mm film, Hudsmith said.
Mire lauds the film for its beautiful cinematography and for its powerful story.
The filmmakers went to France to retrieve the footage from the heirs of the original group of Frenchmen; they intertwine the original footage with present day high definition footage to create something beautiful, Mire said.
Hudsmith said the French Consul General will be at the festival on opening night to greet people and take in some of the films.
Mire said the films presented at the festival rarely cost more than $1 million to produce, and that’s for high-end films.
“You better be a good storyteller,” he said about the small budgets.
One of Mire’s favorite films at this year’s festival is a Western created for $40,000 that he said has fantastic acting.
“How do you make a Western for $40,000?” he asked — and then answered his own question: “It’s such a labor of love.”
But the filmmakers aren’t the only ones who make sacrifices. With more than 1,000 submissions, Mire and Hudsmith have spent most of their holidays watching all the films and determining which will be sent to the screening committee.
Mire said his work began in June and hasn’t let up since.
When the festival ends after its weeklong run, you can be assured Mire will be immediately thinking about next year’s Cinema on the Bayou.
Garden and Gun Magazine, the Soul of the South
BY JED PORTMAN - DECEMBER/JANUARY 2015
Goings-on in the South and beyond
A Reel Good Time
Lafayette, Louisiana
January 21-25
Cajun country doesn’t exactly lack for local color. A stew of French, Spanish, and African influences, the area has a bons temps spirit that makes it an ideal spot for an international film festival. Especially one charged with exposing attendees to the most original voices in film while fostering cultural exchange among the French-speaking peoples of the world. Organizers behind Cinema on the Bayou (January 21–25), now in its tenth year, will host filmmakers from as far afield as Canada and France, plus their U.S.-based brethren hailing from New Orleans to New York. And whether you’re fluent en français or grateful for subtitles, the four days of screenings are an introduction to Cajun and Creole culture worth much more than the price of admission. —cinemaonthebayou.com
The Advertiser, January 22, 2015
By Herman Fuselier
Mention Cinema on the Bayou to a local movie buff and you'll probably draw a blank stare. Yet, Garden and Gun, a Southern-culture magazine with more than 1 million readers nationwide, praises the event as "a reel good time."
Canadian broadcasters are sending televised reports on the film festival back to Moncton, New Brunswick. AudNews, a publication that highlights filmmaking news, awards and competitions, picks the event as a Top 15 Winter Film Festival in the U.S.
Pat Mire, co-founder of the festival, said Cinema on the Bayou has existed as a stranger in its hometown.
"In some ways, we're better known in French-speaking Canada than we are in Lafayette," said Mire. "This year, we have more than 100 filmmakers and guests, from more than 50 points in Canada.
"Most states in the United States are represented. Many of these filmmakers have been with us before. They tell other people about us and they keep coming back."
Cinema on the Bayou welcomes visitors and locals to the 10th anniversary of this five-day festival, which kicked off Wednesday night with a gala party at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. The Louisiana premiere of "One Armed Man," an award winner at numerous international film festivals, highlighted the occasion, along with downhome music from Sweet Cecilia, a local trio.
The festival will screen more than 90 short films, documentaries and movies at six venues across Lafayette. Some screenings include question-and-answer sessions with the filmmakers and actors.
Read more: Cinema on the Bayou Grows Here, Excels Away From Home
The Advertiser, Jan. 22, 2015
by Herman Fuselier
Pat Mire and Rebecca Hudsmith have no time to put on a film festival. Mire stays busy making and promoting his own films, which have won national and international awards.
Hudsmith is a lawyer who works as a federal public defender for the middle and western districts of Louisiana.
Somehow, Mire and Hudsmith have organized the Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival for the past nine years. Today, they can't imagine life without it.
"As a lawyer, I've always needed the arts as a way to balance my work, which can be very difficult, stressful and sad," said Hudsmith. "This gives me an outlet. I love artists and I have friends who are painters, friends who write. I'm just drawn to creative people, so I love the filmmakers.
"We've become this international community that keeps in touch. We have one filmmaker (Stephanie Assimacopoulo, 'Le Train Bleu') last year from France who we got very close to. When she left, we told her 'When you come out with your next film, we'll get you back here.'
Read more: Cinema on the Bayou Celebrates 10 Years of Filmmaking
The Advocate, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015
By Seth Dickerson
The 10th annual Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival, which starts Wednesday and runs through Jan. 25, is shaping up to be bigger than ever, showcasing some of the best independent films from around the world.
From a film documenting a French Quarter murder-suicide to a story of four friends spending a night out on the streets of Cairo in the months before the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, Cinema on the Bayou will feature more than 100 films this year, almost all of which have never been seen in the state or in the U.S.
“There’s not too many countries you could name off the top of your head. We didn’t get a submission from,” said Pat Mire, Cinema on the Bayou founder and artistic director. “All through the Middle East, all through Europe, Russia, all over.”
After sifting through hundreds of submitted films from around the world, Mire said about 15 percent made the cut.
The festival will kick off at The Acadiana Center for the Arts on Wednesday with a gala party and the Louisiana premiere of actor Tim Guinee’s 2014 adaptation of Horton Foote’s “One Armed Man,” a drama about a wealthy cotton gin executive confronted by a disgruntled former employee demanding the return of an arm lost in the gin’s machinery.
The headline event showing of the multi-award-winning short film is set to start at 7 p.m.
“That film is a special film,” Mire said. “It will play well to our audience.”
Read more: Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival kicks off Wednesday in Lafayette 2015
Acadie-Nouvelle, Samedi 11 janvier 2014 par Sylvie Mousseau MONCTON – Le documentaire Ron Turcotte, jockey légendaire, de Phil Comeau, donnera le coup d’envoi au 9e Festival des films Cinema on the Bayou à Lafayette, en
Read more: Jockey légendaire poursuit sa route
