Hotel Monteleone’s Guide to the 29th Annual New Orleans Film Festival

In a city fondly known as “Hollywood South,” the New Orleans Film Festival celebrates the silver screen with a wide selection of local, national, and international films. The 29th Annual New Orleans Film Festival runs from Wednesday, October 17, through Thursday, October 25, and features parties, panel discussions, and screenings.

According to the New Orleans Film Society, the New Orleans Film Festival has grown into an internationally respected event that attracts 20-25k people, 400+ filmmakers, and 240 films.

Read on for a closer look at this year’s festival.

Photo by New Orleans Film Festival via Facebook

2018 New Orleans Film Festival

The Films

As with previous years, the Film Festival features a wide variety of genres—even music videos! This year’s program includes several buzzed-about films, including “Green Book,” which kicks off the fest’s opening night on Wednesday, October 17, and tells the story of a “true friendship that transcended race, class and the 1962 Mason-Dixon line.”

The Centerpiece Film of the festival, Widows, will be screened on October 20th at the Contemporary Arts Center. Directed by Academy Award winner Steve McQueen, Widows is the “story of four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands’ criminal activities.”

Another anticipated film is Wildlife, directed by Paul Dano and starring Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal. The film follows the complicated emotional lives of a couple living in 1960s Montana and is an impressive directorial debut by Dano.

This year’s festival will include a Caribbean Voices category, featuring films of a variety of genres made in the Caribbean. Check out this list for all the details.

A lineup of “brief gems” makes up the Louisiana Shorts category, including:

  • 6: An Unbirth: “A creation story. A musical journey. A woman’s odyssey to mend the broken bonds between human and nature, Goddess and self.” Click here for the trailer.
  • Alienated (World Premiere): “A teenage girl talks to her therapist about her feelings of isolation and the vague memory of a disturbing incident that continues to haunt her.”
  • Barbara’s Game (US Premiere): “Varvara discovers that a game from her childhood had been beautifully documented by her mother.”

Check out the Louisiana Shorts full lineup here.

The Events

In addition to screenings, the Fest includes pitch competitions, mentor sessions, workshops, and panel discussions featuring industry leaders. These are open to the general public.

For the official schedule of events, stay tuned to neworleansfilmsociety.org for exciting announcements coming soon!

How to Attend

Many events, including the pitch events, are free. For others, you can often buy tickets at the door.

The festival offers several types of attendance passes:

The All Access Pass ($320) offers:

  • Admission to all festival screenings with reservations
  • Access to the Festival VIP Lounge at the New Orleans Advocate
  • Entry to exclusive NOFF 2018 parties and receptions every night of the Festival, which MovieMaker Magazine says “set the bar for U.S. film festivals.”
  • Early access to online reservations on September 24th at noon (10 days before tickets go on sale for the general public)
  • Priority entrance to all screenings

The Weekender Pass ($195) offers:

  • Admission to all festival screenings and special presentations from Friday – Sunday, with prior reservations (approx. 60 options)
  • Admission to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night parties
  • Access to the VIP Lounge at the New Orleans Advocate
  • Early access to online reservations on September 24th at noon (10 days before tickets go on sale for the general public)
  • Priority entrance to all screenings

The Unlimited Film Pass ($150) offers:

  • Admission to all festival screenings (excludes Opening and Closing Night films), with prior reservations (over 200 options)

  • Early access to online reservations on September 24th at noon (10 days before tickets go on sale for the general public)

Details on all attendance passes can be found here.

Stay Close to the Film Festival Action at Hotel Monteleone

If you stay with us during the 2018 New Orleans Film Festival, you’ll be just minutes away from screenings, events, and more. Book with us today!

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