Shot in Lafayette

    Lafayette with its diverse terrain and film talent has attracted filmmakers for decades. The city offers two outstanding film festivals — the Southern Screen Film Festival held in the fall and Cinema on the Bayou in January — and is home to Pixel Magic, a production company that produces visual effects for many blockbuster films, including “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows,” “Beautiful Creatures,” “Secretariat” and “The Chronicles of Narnia.”
    On Saturday, April 20, 2013, as part of INNOV8, the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise (LITE Center) will hold an open house that includes a look inside Pixel Magic. Titled “Behind the Scenes of Hollywood Movies,” there will be a demonstration from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for all audiences and a demonstration in the more technical side of the VFX process from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.    
    Also this year, Festival International de Louisiane presents Soirées du Cinema, a free film series taking place Tuesday, April 23, at Cité des Arts, 109 Vine St. in downtown Lafayette. Films to be shown are “Rise Up” (Jamaica, 2012), Best Music Documentary winner at Silverdocs AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival, and “Brushy, the King of One String” (Jamaica, 2012).
    Here are a few movies made in the Lafayette area:
    Secretariat (2010) with Diane Lane, John Malkovich and Scott Glenn
    The Apostle (1997) with Robert Duvall and Farrah Fawcett
    Southern Comfort (1981) with Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Alan Autry and Peter Coyote. (The Bayou Vermilion District’s free monthly cultural film series Les Vues presents “Southern Comfort” at 6:30 p.m. April 29, 2013, in their Performance Center with local filmmaker Zack Godshall curating.)
    Belizaire the Cajun (1986) with Armand Assante, Will Patton and Gail Youngs
    Casey’s Shadow (1978) with Walter Matthau
    The Drowning Pool (1975) starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and a young Melanie Griffith
    Nevada Smith (1966) with Steve McQueen 
    Easy Rider (1969) with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda
    And that’s just a small selection of the many films shot in and around Lafayette. For a more extensive list, visit HollywoodOnTheBayou.com.