The festival had one off-year when New Orleans suffered the effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

[2] As of 2018[update] the festival had grown into an internationally respected annual event that attracts 20–25,000 people, 400+ filmmakers, and 240 films.

Listed as “Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World” by MovieMaker Magazine in 2016 and 2017.

Films shown at the 2022 event included Causeway, Fingers in the Wind, Empire of Light, and Street Punx.

Paste Magazine praised the festival for offering “a platform to voices that still fight to be heard.” We honor three vital commitments to filmmakers and to audiences hungry for fresh work with perspectives less often represented on the silver screen: The Emerging Voices Mentorship program, an initiative of the New Orleans Film Society, was created in 2014 and founded on the principle that to create a more diverse storytelling landscape, filmmakers of color in Louisiana need greater access to gatekeepers.

Applicants include filmmakers with narrative or documentary projects (shorts, features or web-based), experimental films and music videos in the development/pre-production stage.

The program works to empower the local community as well as to promote the unique perspectives and cultures created in Louisiana to the rest of the country, and the world.

[3] In an effort to expand its offerings and services to support diverse makers, the New Orleans Film Festival launched its first Screenplay Competition to coincide with the 2018 New Orleans Film Festival.

The winner and top three finalists in all categories receive an All-Access Pass to attend the New Orleans Film Festival.

Josh Freund + Sam Radutzky) 2015 – Delta Justice: The Isleños Trappers War (dir.

Laura Amelia Guzman + Israel Cardenas) 2016 – My First Kiss and the People Involved (dir.