Louisiana short films you shouldn’t miss at this year’s New Orleans Film Festival

The big-studio movies, the ones stocked with famous faces, get all the attention. They also tend to get all the glitz and red-carpet hoopla.

But among the secrets of the New Orleans Film Festival – the 35th installment of which kicks off Oct. 16 – is its shorts programs. There, moviegoers stand to discover an appealingly diverse array of topics, of styles, of filmmaking voices.

Typically, they’ll screen in clusters in programs consisting of five or so thematically linked shorts: Louisiana documentaries, comedy, horror.  

Invariably, cinematic treasures await. They might be tiny treasures, but treasures are treasures, and all are welcome.

Granted, not all of them will speak to all tastes. But that’s perhaps the best thing about shorts: They’re short. As such, they’re like the streetcars of the film festival. If you don’t like one, just wait a few minutes. Another will be coming along in a few minutes.

Below, find a few Louisiana-flavored recommendations from this year’s lineup to watch for as you hammer out your festival plans. In addition to the screening times provided for each, all are available for screening from Oct. 16 to 28 through the festival’s Virtual Cinema component.

Short Louisiana films at the New Orleans Film Festival

“Footwork” (dir. Drake LeBlanc; 16 mins.; documentary)

Among the standouts of this year’s crop of shorts is this lyrical and loving celebration of Louisiana’s Black and Creole cowboys, and the unique culture they inhabit – or, more accurately, that inhabits them. Focusing largely on the Creole trail rides through which they keep their traditions alive, it is more a stream-of-consciousness reflection than a conventional documentary. At the same time, it oozes Louisiana atmosphere, helped along by its assortment of interview subjects, its beautiful cinematography and its music, which notably includes the zydeco-infused “Hype” by Lake Charles’ Rusty Metoyer feat. Gem Ceasar.

Screens as part of the program “Doc Shorts: Heirlooms” at 5:45 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Broad Theater (636 N. Broad St.) and 11 a.m. Oct. 21 at the Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp St.).

“Bywater Coven November New Moon Admin Covening” (dir. Jane Geisler; 14 mins.; narrative; world premiere)

In this amusing little exercise, four members of a Bywater coven meet to discuss various mundane orders of business from their social media presence to dealing with their neighborhood nemesis. Playing like a witchy take on the vampire-centric “What We Do in the Shadows,” New Orleans filmmaker Jane Geisler’s film feels more like a proof of concept than a full story, as if it is but a sampling of a larger vision. But what it lacks in narrative arc it makes up for with its well-cast quartet of witches, whose on-camera ease makes it feel like a real, honest-to-goodness hangout among friends.

Screens as part of the program “Louisiana Comedy Shorts: Beignet” at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 20 and 3:15 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Contemporary Arts Center.

“Évangéline” (dir. Cory St. Ewart; 10 mins.; narrative; world premiere)

This dark, from-the-swamps fairy tale, set in the 1940s, tells the story of a young Louisiana girl who makes up her mind to escape an abusive domestic situation by summoning the blood-curdling assistance of a ferocious Rougarou. The result is a sort of Cajun-informed “Little Red Riding Hood,” blending Louisiana folklore and Grimm-flavored horror. Like “Bywater Coven,” ULL product Cory St. Ewart’s film also feels as if it is a hint of a larger, feature-length vision – but a tantalizing one at that.

Screens as part of the program “Louisiana Shorts: Gumbo” at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 21 and 3:15 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Contemporary Arts Center.

“Delacroix” (dir. Keely Kernan; 6 mins.; documentary)

Meet Tommy Gonzales, an octogenarian resident of the end-of-the-world village of Delacroix Island, population 36. He’s our tour guide in environmental documentarian Keely Kernan’s short-and-bittersweet film, which – fueled largely by Gonzales’ charisma – serves both as an elegy for any number of Louisiana’s fast-submerging coastal communities and as an homage to the grit and determination of the die-hards like Gonzales who refuse to abandon them.

Screens as part of the program “Doc Shorts: Flora & Fauna” at 6 p.m. Oct. 19 at the Broad Theater.