Baton Rouge Film Festival

Closing night celebration for the inaugural Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival.

PUBLIC ACCESS revisits New York City’s radical experiment in open media, when uncensored voices filled the airwaves decades before the internet. Told entirely through rare archival material and first person accounts, the film charts Public Access as a social and cinematic experiment – one that tested the limits of expression, provoked legal battles, and revealed enduring tensions between freedom, power, and control that continue to shape today's battles over platforms and free speech.

Animation and Puppetry Shorts, and Music Videos

• Sorrow Doesn't Sleep At Night (9 min) Directed by Josefina Montino, Martín André
• A Bird Hit My Window and Now I'm a Lesbian (8 min) Directed by Carmela Murphy, AJ Dubler
• Dobrina (5 min) Directed by Hannes Rall
• The Fragility Of A Lonesome Crow (10 min) Directed by Emanuel Fernandez
• Gruff (9 min) Directed by Julian Curi
• Sorry I Missed Your Call (5.5 min) Directed by Hae Ji Cho
• Bayou Lafourche (4.5 min) Directed by Dustin Paul Robichaux
• DEVOTION (3 min) Directed by Marcelle Tiblier
• Wasting Away by Final Essay (5 min) Directed by Kolby Kember
• HA (Gabaldon) (4 min) Directed by Nuno Belmar

‍

A collection of Short Films, listed below in screening order.

• Jazz Infernal (16.5 mins) Directed by Will Niava
• On a Sunday at Eleven (9 min) Directed by Alicia K. Harris
• Spank Patrol (3.5 min) Directed by Kevin Ralston
• DISC (14 min) Directed by Blake Rice
• We're All Black Down Here (15.5 min) Directed by James William Mellors
• Beaks (23 min) Directed by Xavier Demoulin
• cowabunga! (2 mins) Directed by Jacob Staudenmaier

‍

Baton Rouge native Mike James Gallagher, an Emmy-nominated sound designer and creator of INDEPTH Sound Design, is bringing two-time Oscar winner Mark Mangini to Baton Rouge to headline a live INDEPTH conversation at BRUFF.

Mark Mangini is a two-time Academy Award winning and six time nominated Sound Designer known for films including Blade Runner 2049, Star Treks I,IV,&V, The Fifth Element, and Gremlins. He has spent his 45 year career in Hollywood imagining and composing altered sonic realities for motion pictures. He is a frequent lecturer, an outspoken proponent for sound as art and a guitarist and songwriter with compositions in sex, lies and videotape, Star Trek IV, Picard. and others. He is a member of AMPAS, MPSE, SAG, SMPTE, and ASCAP.

There's a full-circle twist. Mangini received a special thanks in the credits on Sex, Lies, and Videotape, the Soderbergh debut shot in Baton Rouge that won the Palme d'Or and helped launch American independent film. Mangini was Soderbergh's landlord in LA at the time, and he wrote and performed the guitar piece that opens the film. Dedicated to the success of American independent film, Mangini gave Soderbergh run of his editorial company for the duration of the film at a price that helped make this iconic indie film possible.

‍

Indie Filmmaker Panel: Nate Tape (Off Ramp, NPC); Andrew van den Houten (Mercy, Mercy, Me); Jared LaReau (West of Greatness); Brooke Cellars (Cramps! A Period Peace)

Join the creators of Louisiana shot feature films to hear their insight on filmmaking in the Boot!

‍

Peeping Todd Directed by Josh Munds

When his peeping passions become compromised, Todd decides he’ll do whatever it takes to continue stalking his beloved Claire. An obsessive HOA fleet and a dense boyfriend are obstacles Todd must dance around if he wants to sing his way into Claire’s heart. As Claire gets wrapped up in the lies of her fiance and the web of her stalker, she must escape the two most toxic relationships she’s ever faced.

‍

Louisiana Genre Shorts

• Collect Call (15 mins) Directed by Wesley Boone
• Hivemind Deluxe (10 mins) Directed by Chris Alan Evans
• Convulsions (22 min) Directed by Adrien Picquenot, Pierrot du Saillant
• The Void Within (5 min) Directed by Adrian Jordan Jr
• Hustlevania (10.5 min) Directed by Clayton Nepveux III
• Bluescreen (9 min) Directed by Darrell C. Forest
• American Woman (7:47) Directed by Matison LeBlanc, Ashley Wehrs
• Plastic Cowboy (9 min) Directed by Jan Winters

‍

Join Baton Rouge Film Commissioner and Co-Founder of Film USA, Katie Patton Pryor for an update on Film USA and where the industry stands on a national scale.

Mercy, Mercy, Me Directed by Wes Miller

In 1985, ex-criminals Mercy and Khaos are dragged back to their old life for one risky job, facing mobsters, a corrupt cop, and their past misdeeds.

‍

“A Hands-On Introduction to 35mm” Presented by Shawscope

In this workshop, you’ll get a crash course in shooting celluloid film, and then you’ll be able to get your hands on 35mm movie cameras that were used on movies like “Queen and Slim”, “City of God”, “A Clockwork Orange”, and “Cramps! A Period Piece” (screening at BRUFF!). Each workshop participant will get a chance to shoot a shot on 35mm, and receive a downloadable digital file of the workshop footage for their own use.

‍

Three Colors: Pan African Directed by Elijah Davis, Allison A. Waite, Tyler Ocascio Holmes

THREE COLORS: PAN-AFRICAN is an anthology feature film where the main theme of each chapter takes its meaning from the themes behind the colors of the Pan-African flag.

Three Black children play freely at their grandmother’s home until a hypnotic TV rerun depicting a Black family performing racist caricature captures their attention. When the kids repeat disparaging language they heard on the show at the breakfast table, their grandmother shares stories of strength, community, and character to instill pride in their Blackness. The children’s vivid imaginations bring these stories to life.

First, RED. Ahmari Rose, a 9-year-old raised by his mother, is conditioned by his uncle Steve to believe that Black men must be physically strong, emotionally closed off, and that football is the only path towards success. Thirteen years later, on the verge of the NFL draft, a knee injury puts his pro prospects in serious jeopardy. As he desperately fights to get back on the field, his pride gets the best of him and he injures himself further. Returning home distraught, Ahmari is confronted by Steve. After a physical altercation, Steve opens up to Ahmari, offering him a new guiding light towards success. Ahmari finally breaks down in Steve’s arms as he makes the decision to retire.

Then, BLACK. Joana Mensa, an undocumented immigrant new to Los Angeles, is fired after a disastrous accident with an elderly in-home patient. In financial distress and at risk of deportation, Joanna is alone as she has isolated herself from the surrounding African American community due to her own internalized prejudice. When she begins to receive mysterious care packages at her doorstep, her perception of her community shifts, leading her to embrace the community that rallies behind her.

Finally, GREEN. Jontavious Rodgers, an actor striving to support his family, faces a dilemma when the network begins to drive his sitcom into a racist caricature to boost ratings. As the show falls deeper into a negative representation of the Black family, Jontavious is forced to choose between financial stability for his family and better on-screen representation. Jonatavious becomes complicit in the degradation of the show until he sees the negative impact it has on his son, leading him to the decision to walk away and write his own story.

‍

It Needs Eyes Directed by Zack Ogle, Aaron Pagniano

Suffering from a traumatic event, teenager Rowan is whisked away from home and taken to her estranged aunt's oceanside home indefinitely. Racked with guilt and unable to enjoy a normal summer, she drowns out the noise with increasingly bizarre, violent internet content. Soon, Rowan comes across videos of a missing woman known only as Fish Tooth, who she believes is calling out through the screen for help. Despite a budding relationship with her camgirl neighbor, Alex, Rowan’s obsession with Fish Tooth will lead her to something sinister lurking at the bottom of this twisted internet rabbit hole…

‍