In the last edition, the Up Fronter speculated about the future of Louisiana\u2019s generous film credits. We don\u2019t yet know what direction that future will take. We do know that one film crew was recently able to use a $2,000 grant from the Jeff Davis Film Commission to make a short, fictional film in Lake Arthur. The film was shot at the riverside home and property of Marion Fox, executive director of the Jeff Davis Parish Economic Development & Tourist Convention. Sunset in Heaven is based on a short story by highly praised fiction writer Tim Gautreaux, who hails from Morgan City and is writer in residence at Southeastern Louisiana University. He wrote the new film\u2019s screenplay. The story concerns a man who\u2019s experienced intense fear since the death of his wife. He eventually encounters an elderly farmer with Alzheimer\u2019s, who gives him consolation and helps him come to grips with the idea of death. The film is directed by Matt Morgan, a Lake Arthur native who now lives in New York. He\u2019s studied film production at New York University\u2019s Tisch School of the Arts. Morgan has been behind a film camera of some type since the age of 11. He founded Yacht Club films, where he plies his craft along with fellow directors and friends. The final version of the film will run 12-15 minutes. The widower is played by Conan McCarty and the old farmer by Robert W. Smith. Conor Murphy is the film\u2019s photographer. The Up Fronter will pass on any updates about the film he receives.<\/p>\n
No Greater Love <\/strong><\/p>\n Another film out of Southwest Louisiana is doing well. The documentary No Greater Love has won the Audience Preference Award at the Phoenix Film Festival and Best Documentary Award at the Baton Rouge Film Festival. Most recently, it was entered in the Newport Beach (Calif.) Film Festival. No Greater Love is one of a number of projects that\u2019s received funding in recent years from the investment group Angels of Southwest Louisiana. Ronald McGinley, managing director of the group, says the film will \u201cincrease awareness of the effect of war and the need to improve the support for returning veterans.\u201d The film comes out of the Louisiana-based start-up company Atlas Productions. If you\u2019d like to know more about No Greater Love, visit nglfilm.com<\/p>\n Some Work; Some Don\u2019t<\/strong><\/p>\n On Thursday, May 5, the state\u2019s legislators were packing for their traditional three-day weekend. Fact of business, this holiday was at least 3 1\/2 days long, as the session didn\u2019t resume until 2 pm on Monday. Well, why shouldn\u2019t they take some time off? I mean, the only thing going on was that the state\u2019s budget was $600 million in the hole. All over the state, there were unintentionally humorous news stories stating that the Legislature would \u201caddress\u201d the budget gap on Monday. Sure. And I\u2019m going to address the human condition two weeks from the next fifth Wednesday in a month. Anyhoo, while the legislators weren\u2019t working, folks down in New Orleans were working very hard \u2014 on their costumes. Were they celebrating Cinco de Mayo? Not exactly. As it happened, on May 5, a huge sinkhole opened up New Orleans\u2019 famed Canal Street. When I say \u201chuge,\u201d I mean that the hole was big enough to completely stop traffic in two lanes. N.O. residents reacted to the absurd development with an absurd party: Sinkhole de Mayo. To see how hard some people in the state can work, check out this photo of a woman who made a costume that looks exactly like a pile of broken cement, reinforcement and filler of various types and strips of bright yellow police tape. There\u2019s even a bag of chips in the ensemble. I don\u2019t know whether this was supposed to be an example of N.O. litter or whether the celebrant was eating the chips as she paraded around. This is the closest you\u2019re ever going to come to seeing a person walking around while surrounded by a sinkhole. People can do amazing things when they put their minds to it and apply a little elbow grease.<\/p>\n Eat Crawfish \u2018Screamin\u2019 Fast\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n James Karst, who won the Crawfish Mambo crawfish eating contest at the University of N.O. on April 30, just released a minute-long video with the great title \u201cHow To Eat Crawfish Screamin\u2019 Fast.\u201d Karst is a staff writer at the Times-Picayune. To see the video, visit nola.com and search for \u201cHow to eat crawfish really, really fast.\u201d<\/p>\n This Headline Smells Funny<\/strong><\/p>\n The Legislature\u2019s recent raw milk bill gave state journalists a chance to demonstrate they can be almost as funny as state politicians. Here are the headlines that prove it: \u201cRaw milk bill bottled up in House agriculture committee\u201d \u2014 NOLA.com \u201c\u2018Raw milk\u2019 bill sours in House agriculture committee\u201d \u2014 Associated Press correspondent (compare the B.R. Business Report\u2019s \u201cLouisiana House panel sours on raw milk bill\u201d) \u201cRaw Milk Bill Buys The Farm\u201d \u2014 WRKF in Baton Rouge \u201cRaw milk spoils in Louisiana agriculture committee\u201d \u2014 Capital Press, B.R. correspondent The worst humor fail was NOLA.com\u2019s April 18 headline \u201cDon\u2019t tread on my raw milk.\u201d In an ideal world, people in journalism classes would be taught what mixed metaphors are and why they\u2019re always a bad idea. The short and long of it is that for the time being, Louisiana will remain one of six states in the country that prohibits the sell of raw milk.<\/p>\n What Great Directors Read<\/strong><\/p>\n Darren Aronofsky has the almost unique gift of making movies that are both brainy and popular. You may have seen such Aronofsky works as Black Swan, The Wrestler and Pi. Werner Herzog (Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo, Nosferatu, Grizzly Man) may have made a little less money with his movies. But he is (at this point, anyway) more renowned than Aronofsky. Between them, the two directors have collected a flock of Oscars. Filmmaker Magazine thinks folks should know what these great creative figures read. So its staff compiled a list of 11 books \u2014 the first five recommended by Aronofsky and the last six by Herzog. 1. Making Movies by Sidney Lumet 2. The Writer\u2019s Journey by Christopher Vogler 3. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind 4. The Ragman\u2019s Son by Kirk Douglas 5. Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut 6. Georgics by Virgil 7. The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway 8. The Warren Commission Report 9. Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais 10. The Poetic Edda translated by Lee M. Hollander 11. True History of the Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz del Castillo The last six titles are read by students who attend Herzog\u2019s Rogue Film School. (And you can learn more about them at the internet site for that school.) I tried for a few moments to see whether I could find common threads running through the Herzog titles. But I\u2019m not able to think of anything the Warren Commission Report might have in common with Gargantua and Pantagruel (other than the fact that they\u2019re both books). Still, I don\u2019t feel bad about being unable to read the mind of someone who is surely one of the most imaginative figures of our time.<\/p>\n No, Thanks<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard mashed up with the Tweets and observations of Kim Kardashian.\u201d \u2014 Description for Twitter poster KimKierkegaardashian.<\/p>\n \u2018When Cats Are Sad\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Bartender: What\u2019ll ya have? Cat: Shot of rum. [Bartender pours it. Cat slowly pushes it off the bar.] Cat: Another. \u2014 Tweeted by CatSurge, May 6<\/p>\n The Funnies<\/strong><\/p>\n Secretary April (Aubrey Plaza) makes sure that a client won\u2019t be able to schedule a meeting with her boss. Client: Oh, excuse me. I had a meeting with Ron Swanson yesterday, but I had a little car trouble … April: Sorry, he\u2019s busy now. Client: Can I reschedule? April: Hmm. How about June 50th? Client: Sorry? April: Do you think you could come back today at 2:65? He\u2019s available then. Client: What is going on? April: Looks like the only other day he has open is Marchtember oneteenth. Does that work, sir? \u2014 Parks and Recreation, \u201c94 Meetings\u201d episode, 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the last edition, the Up Fronter speculated about the future of Louisiana\u2019s generous film credits. We don\u2019t yet know what direction that future will take. We do know that one film crew was recently able to use a $2,000 grant from the Jeff Davis Film Commission to make a short, fictional film in Lake [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":270,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[38,37],"yoast_head":"\n