We're proud to announce that on September 27th, Director Benh Zeitlin had the honor of receiving the New Orleans Film Society's Celluloid Hero Award. Gina Montana a.k.a Ms. Bathsheba was on the scene at the gala to document Benh, Dwight, and Quvenzhané accepting the award.
Watch Party at Sweet Lorraine's
Our New Orleans watch party at Sweet Lorraine's was a blast. A huge thank you to Marianna, our amazing outreacher who organized the party with Dwight Henry.
There were some incredible highlights, from everyone in the bar chanting "Beast it!" to the cheers whenever group shots with a lot of people from the film were shown.
The occasion turned out to be a great reunion for cast and crew who hadn't seen each other since the premiere in NOLA. Everyone got to rehash memories, marvel in all that's happened, and celebrate together. As Lowell Landes said, "You know how with any job, there's always one person that's a fly in the ointment because they don't shower, or they're mean--well there was no fly in the ointment this time. Everyone was great, it was a great group of people to work with."
On a similar note, to all of our friends down South who are dealing with preparations for Hurricane Isaac, we're sending safe thoughts and love.
Check out pictures from Sweet Lorraines below!
Beasts in Dallas
"The funniest thing was all of us wearing nice clothes on the French Riviera, cause thinking back three years, you know, we were getting ripped up by mosquitos in our wife-beaters and shorts. So [where we are now] is as far as you can imagine from where we were when we were making the film. But we never really had time to think about it, we finished the film two days before Sundance and everything has been moving at lightning speed. Everyday you just wake up and something crazier is happening." -- Benh Zeitlin
Dwight, Nazie and Benh answered questions at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas, TX.
Talking with Matt & Dwight
Q: Matt, as producer, you know they say 'children and animals,' tough to work with... and water, you had the trifecta -- plus a bunch of other stuff, in terms of this film. How was it for you?
Matt: It was tough, i mean, it was a tough shoot for everybody. We shot for 7 weeks and every day there was a different obstacle. From working with alligators one day, we were supposed to have a helicopter one day but when the oil spill happened on day one of our shoot, BP took all the boats and helicopters in the area so we didn't get to use that. So it was a real challenge but everybody there was giving it everything they had, from their heart, and when everybody around you is doing that, it makes it easy, and it was a pleasure. I don't know if we could ever do a film like that again. It was a perfect storm of everything that was happening, and it was really great.
Dwight Henry & co-producer Matt Parker took the stage at Nashville's Belcourt Theatre to answer questions after two sold-out screenings of Beasts.
Beasting it at Guanajuato
We're thrilled to announce that Beasts of the Southern Wild won "Best International Debut Feature" award at the Guanajuato Film Festival!
Benh Zeitlin pictured center with the Guanajuato Film Festival's director, Sarah Hoch (L), and Jason Resnick (R).
Benh Zeitlin Mejor Opera Prima Internacional
Felicitaciones to the whole cast & crew!
Photographs by Karen Barajas and Paolo Vidales.