A Louisiana-shot film that took top honors at this year's Sundance Film Festival is back in the state where it was made for a Hollywood-style red carpet premiere before opening in select theaters nationwide this summer.
The mythical "Beasts of the Southern Wild" follows a motherless young girl living in the marshlands of the southern Delta with her ailing father as a storm approaches. It won the grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic competition at Sundance, and the Camera d'Or at France's Cannes Film Festival for best first film by director Benh Zeitlin.
The film's makers and stars — all newcomers to the big screen — were being celebrated in New Orleans Monday night with a glamorous red carpet premiere at the Joy Theater on the streetcar-lined Canal Street.