New Orleans Film Festival 2015 Recap Part I

I had the chance to do several interviews with various filmmakers, artists, industry leaders and festival guests at this year’s New Orleans Film Festival. I’ve compiled all the interviews into one episode. At the end of Part II, I share details and reflections on my own personal festival experience.

The interview came in at over 2 hours, so I broke up into two parts. Below is the breakdown of who I interviewed in each part.

The festival bus that took us to the Reflektor Party where Win Butler from Arcade Fire was the DJ

Part I

• Jennifer Medvin, director of Little Hero, Special Jury Award for Documentary Short
• Jordan Shiele, director of Turtle, Jury Winner for Narrative Short
• Kevin Prockup, film composer of Lousiana short, Does God Hear Robots Pray
• Erica Anderson, head of crowdfunding & education at Seed & Spark, festival panelist
• Conway Solomon, actor from Louisiana short Us Against the World, which won the Apex Post Special Mention for Best Sound in a Louisiana Film
• Russell Blanchard, director; Benjamin Gouldthorpe, writer of Louisiana short The Lot, featured in the festival’s Cinema Classroom program
• Victoria Greene, festival volunteer, filmmaker for upcoming documentary Forgotten Bayou 
• Morgan Roberts, director of Louisiana short, Rite, Jury Winner for Louisiana Short
• Brian Richard, director; Hunter Burke, co-writer and actor; Natalie Kingston, director of photography; Chris Haney, producer of Louisiana short Atchafalaya 
• Jane Cassidy, artist with a featured installation at the festival, experimental shorts juror
• Justin Ditch, from Professional Sound Services, sponsor and audio work

This is me with Jane by her art installation.

space

Part II

• Kevin Hughes, director on Louisiana short Tough Love, sound mixer on Louisiana feature Mourning Hills, a film which won the Apex Post Award for Best Sound in a Louisiana Film
• Kenny Lass and Alex Wiltz co-directors of Louisiana short Hut
• Ian Midgley, director of documentary Reversing the Mississippi, which had a world premiere at the New Orleans Film Festival
• Pedro Lucero, transportation coordinator for festival, filmmaker
• Greg Tilton, sound mixer on Louisiana feature Love Me True, InDepth Media partner
• Kirby Voss, director of Louisiana feature Love Me True, which had a world premiere at the New Orleans Film Festival
• Elise Berggreen, festival volunteer and actress
• Allen Frederic, director; Brian Friedman, writer; Laurent Dupepe, editor of The King of New Orleans, Special Jury Award for Louisiana Feature
• This part also features my reflections on my festival experience.

A photo I took of Quvenzhane Wallis, the actress from Beasts of the Southern Wild, on the opening night of the festival. You can see more of my festival photos here.

A special thank you to Jolene Pinder and Emily Reimsnyder for giving me media access to cover the event.

Listen to the Interviews:

This is Part I: