Life in the Fest lane – Get Jeff Roedel’s picks for this weekend’s Louisiana International Film Festival

In theaters Friday: Oblivion
New on Blu-ray: Django Unchained

Boasting more than 50 films, plus workshops, parties and an industry expo, the inaugural Louisiana International Film Festival begins this Thursday night and continues through Sunday. As the first-year festival’s co-producer and original Sundance consultant Jeff “The Dude” Dowd said at The Place Beyond the Pines screening last week, “This is an amazing buffet of films.”

“I guarantee this festival will change your life,” Dowd continued as he introduced Pines, reviewed here. “Not only will you find films you really enjoy, you’ll meet other people who do the same. You’ll make a friend, meet someone you end up working with, or maybe you’ll fall in love.”

That’s a tall order for the four-day event founded by Chesley Heymsfield, movie producer and one of 225‘s People to Watch in 2013. But then, Dowd is right, the festival is an impressive display of moviemaking, something the likes of which Baton Rouge has not seen before.

Navigating film festivals such as these always presents a Sophie’s Choice of sorts—there are always conflicting screenings and no matter how hard you try (or fast you drive) you simply can’t make it to everything. So I have studied the complete schedule and listed 10 films I would consider the most essential.

April 18, 7 p.m. at Joy Theatre, New Orleans
You know her as the howling apocryphal voice on the Rolling Stones classic “Gimme Shelter,” hear in just about every Martin Scorsese movie and many more, but Louisiana native soul singer Merry Clayton has an amazing tale as one of the most storied back-up singers of all time, and this documentary delivers. Clayton and the film’s director Morgan Neville will be in attendance.

April 19, 2 p.m. at Celtic Media Centre
In 1917 a bold band of filmmakers created Louisiana’s first blockbuster, actually one of cinema’s first blockbusters, with a haul of more than $1 million when they shot Tarzan of the Apes in Morgan City. This Louisiana-made documentary looks at the history and the impact of that film on the Tarzan mythos and the early days of Hollywood.

April 19, 7 p.m. at Perkins Rowe
Warring graffiti artists are the stars of this New York-set drama that took top honors at South By Southwest. Stakes are raised in this high-wire coming-of-age drama when an act of revenge calls for the defacing of a Mets icon that will require a daring adventure through the black market of the Bronx.

April 19, 9:30 p.m. at Perkins Rowe
Before you kneel before him as Zod in this summer’s Man of Steel, expert villain Michael Shannon plays a real-life family man with a secret: he’s a contract killer. Co-starring Winona Ryder, Chris Evans and James Franco, this ruthless indie is one to watch.

April 19, Midnight at LSU Union Theater
Fans of The Shining will love this documentary that cannonballs down the rabbit hole of a host of theories on the hidden messages and themes allegedly woven into the film by enigmatic director Stanley Kubrick. Is it really about the Holocaust? Is it the filmmaker’s elaborate confession to having helped NASA fake the Apollo 11 moon landing? Or have these fanatics gone just as insane as Jack Torrance?

April 20, 11 a.m. at Manship Theatre
Google’s attempt to scan every book ever published—copyrights be damned—and the ensuing court battle is documented in this Sundance hit film that examines the perils of dreaming big and the potential downside to the power of the Internet.

April 20, 11:30 am at Perkins Rowe
The wrongfully accused and their long road to justice are in sharp focus in this smart, powerhouse portrait of three men who served more than 18 years for murders they did not commit. Produced by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson.

April 20, 10 p.m. at Manship Theatre
Arguably the performance that won two-time Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain her more famous roles in Zero Dark Thirty and The Help, this heartbreaking 2008 drama follows a young girl through a series of detrimental foster homes and eventually on to a life-changing trek across America. The film’s director and festival co-coordinator Dan Ireland will be in attendance.

April 21, 1:30 p.m. at Perkins Rowe
This Elia Kazan-directed classic is essential for two reasons: breathtaking dust bowl imagery and a still-relevant theme of eminent domain as residents of a small island fight against government eviction when the Tennessee Valley Authority wants to build a new dam in their backyard. Montgomery Clift and Lee Remick star.

April 21, 6 p.m. at Perkins Rowe
Hired by a multinational with deep pockets to infiltrate an anarchist collective targeting major corporations, a private security operative is forced to question her allegiance when she falls for the anti-capitalist group’s charismatic leader. Brit Marling, Ellen Page and Alexander Skarsgard star.