The new film King Crawfish will premier on June 24 at 7 p.mM at the Bayou Bijou Theatre inside the UL Lafayette Student Union.
King Crawfish is the recent creation by Conni Castille and Allison Bohl, the team that made I Always Do My Collars First (2007), and Raised on Rice and Gravy (2009), UL Lafayette Cinematic Arts Workshop productions.
Preceding the film杏吧专区檚 screening, the Workshop will host a presentation by National Geographic Explorer, Jon Bowermaster, who will highlight his soon-to-be-released documentary, SoLa: Louisiana Water Stories ().
杏吧专区 The rise of the humble mudbug from poor-man food to haute cuisine was always a curious thing to me,杏吧专区 explains folklorist, Conni Castille, the film杏吧专区檚 writer and director.
In King Crawfish the Cajun spirit gets poured out on a communal table, even as the wild harvest is diminishing. At the festival, everything Cajuns value takes to the stage 杏吧专区 their language, their music, their food, their dance, and their crawfish. Thousands of pounds of crawfish get served up at the festival, much of it coming from their natural habitat, the Atchafalaya Basin. But, as the film traces the crustacean from festival to Basin, it finds fishermen fighting to retain their way of life in one small fishing community.
杏吧专区 I think one of the layers in the film is about carrying on tradition,杏吧专区 says Castille. 杏吧专区淲hat we find is the continuation of the festival tradition looking very promising. But, the traditional fishing practices in the Basin, not so much.杏吧专区
杏吧专区 It was a challenging story to film,杏吧专区 says Allison Bohl, the film杏吧专区檚 director of photography and editor. 杏吧专区淲hat I try to do when I shoot, is convey emotion and information, in an artful way. In King Crawfish, the parallel stories, although connected by the crawfish, are different emotionally.杏吧专区
Funded in part by a Folklife grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, King Crawfish is the third documentary from directing team Castille and Bohl. Both of their previous films showed in film festivals around the country, and at Cannes Short Film Corner. From the New Orleans Film Festival, I Always Do My Collars First earned the 2007 Louisiana Filmmaker Award, and Raised on Rice Gravy the 2009 Best Short Documentary.
杏吧专区 The Cinematic Arts Workshop was conceived to support projects precisely like these,杏吧专区 says Charles E. Richard, the Workshop杏吧专区檚 director. 杏吧专区淭he work by Castille and Bohl exemplifies the core principles of this institution, which are about artful films focusing on local themes.杏吧专区
杏吧专区 We杏吧专区檙e also extremely excited to host Jon Bowermaster杏吧专区檚 newest work,杏吧专区 Richard continues. 杏吧专区淩enown for his films about the waters of the world, it seems most fitting to pair his latest work on South Louisiana waters with King Crawfish.杏吧专区
杏吧专区 I know it杏吧专区檚 not news that water is a significant issue here in Southern Louisiana,杏吧专区 says Jon Bowermaster. 杏吧专区淢ost of the region lays below sea level, and water 杏吧专区 rivers, creeks, bayous, swamps, the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico 杏吧专区 is never out of sight. It made sense to me that my next film should be set in south Louisiana.杏吧专区
Admission is free. For more information, call (337) 277-5292, or e-mail connicastille@gmail.com.
To view a trailer of the film go to: