Good news!  The loft above Church Alley Coffee Bar​ in the lobby of Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center​ will soon feature two exciting new shops, GOODS THAT MATTER / INVADE and THE STACKS (an Art, Architecture and Design Book Shop).  Opening April 8th.  

Combine that with great coffee, drinks and eats from Church Alley and nightly films, music or performance events at Zeitgeist and you have one amazing, happening space!  

1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd (between Euterpe and Terpsichore, across the street from Cafe Reconcile and down the street from Ashe African Cultural Center, Casa Borrega, Purloo, Southern Food and Beverage Museum, New Orleans Jazz Market, The Buddy Bolden Lounge, Jack and Jake's (opening soon), Tassology, Friday Night Fights Boxing Gym, Dryades Theater, Brady Wine Warehouse, Hope Community Credit Union, etc.)  OC Haley is definitely becoming a major destination.

Plus a block away on Baronne is the newly open ASHE'S POWER STATION (performance space) and we are just a few blocks away is the New Orleans Tattoo Museum, McKenna Museum of African Art, St. Charles Tavern, The Irish House, Voodoo Bar BQ, Slice Pizzeria, Zea's Rotisserie, Hoshun Asian Cuisine, Krew De Brew, Sushi Brothers, Tacos and Beer, The Blind Pelican, Lucky's, Avenue Pub, Mais Arepas, Dolce Vita Wood Fired Pizzeria, etc.

So come on by and shop local, eat local, drink local.

Take a ride on the St. Charles Streetcar during the months of April & May to see the ads promoting Oretha Castle Haley and all it has to offer.  Take a selfie in front of the Zeitgeist ad on the streetcar and post it on our Facebook timeline to get free movie tickets.



Speaking of shopping local,

StayLocal will be publishing a CENTRAL CITY NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDE featuring Zeitgeist and all of the other businesses and organizations in our neighborhood.  There will be a GUIDE LAUNCH PARTY on Thursday, April 9 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the NEW ORLEANS JAZZ MARKET (corner of OC Haley & MLK blvd.)

One of my long time members asked me tonight, if I can only watch one film per night during the PATOIS: NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL, which would I recommend?

So I decided that would make a good blog post, so here are my personal festival recommendations for each of the remaining nights:

If you can only see one film per night…

Friday, March 13 @ 9:15 p.m.
The Throwaways | USA | 2014 | 62min | Documentary

The Throwaways is a personal exploration of the devastating impact of police brutality and mass incarceration on the black community told through the eyes of formerly incarcerated activist filmmaker Ira McKinley.  With rawness, urgency and power, this award-winning documentary film speaks directly to the national movement rising up to fight back against a wave of police killings of black people in America.

Timely and provocative, The Throwaways is more just than an illumination of marginalized people at their weakest moments; it is a call to action, a story of directly engaging in the fight for justice. Directed by Bhawin Suchak and Ira McKinley.

Saturday, March 14 @ 7:00 p.m.
The Hand That Feeds | USA | 2014 | 88min | Documentary
At a popular bakery café, residents of New York’s Upper East Side get bagels and coffee served with a smile 24 hours a day. But behind the scenes, undocumented immigrant workers face sub-legal wages, dangerous machinery, and abusive managers who will fire them for calling in sick. Mild-mannered sandwich maker Mahoma López has never been interested in politics, but in January 2012, he convinces a small group of his co-workers to fight back.

Risking deportation and the loss of their livelihood, the workers team up with a diverse crew of innovative young organizers and take the unusual step of forming their own independent union, launching themselves on a journey that will test the limits of their resolve. In one roller-coaster year, they must overcome a shocking betrayal and a two-month lockout. Lawyers will battle in back rooms, Occupy Wall Street protesters will take over the restaurant, and a picket line will divide the neighborhood. If they can win a contract, it will set a historic precedent for low-wage workers across the country. But whatever happens, Mahoma and his coworkers will never be exploited again. Written, directed and produced by Rachel Lears & Robin Blotnick.

Presented with support the New Orleans Film Society, Congress of Day Laborers, $15 and a Union, and Solidarity Ignite.

Sunday, March 15 @ 7:00 p.m.
Kate Bornstein is a Queer and Pleasant Danger | USA/Canada | 2014 | 72min | Documentary

Performance artist and writer Kate Bornstein explodes binaries while deconstructing gender—and her own identity. Trans-dyke. Reluctant polyamorist. Sadomasochist. Recovering Scientologist. Pioneering gender outlaw. Sam Feder’s playful and meditative portrait on Bornstein, captures rollicking public performances and painful personal revelations as it bears witness to Kate as a trailblazing artist-theorist-activist who inhabits a space between male and female with wit, style and astonishing candor. Directed by Sam Feder.

Thursday, March 19 @ 5:30 p.m.
FOUCAULT AGAINST HIMSELF

“Don’t ask me who I am, and don’t tell me to remain the same.” —Michel Foucault

From the history of madness, to sexuality and pleasure in classical antiquity, to the law and penal institutions, the breadth of Michel Foucault’s thought was astonishing.

One of the leading intellectuals of the 20th century, Foucault bridged the roles of intellectual and activist, attaining the highest honours of the French academy while using his position to attack the very institutional power that gave him a platform.

FOUCAULT AGAINST HIMSELF captures the energy and fierce intellect of the man, introducing us to the key elements of his work, while also acknowledging—even celebrating—its many contradictions.

Friday, March 6:00 p.m.
The Wanted 18 | Canada/France/Palestine | 2014 | 75min | Documentary

Through stop-motion animation, drawings and interviews, directors Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan recreate an astonishing true story from the First Palestinian Intifada: the Israeli army’s pursuit of eighteen cows, whose independent milk production on a Palestinian collective farm was declared “a threat to the national security of the state of Israel.”

Plus:  BDS Program with Ramah Kudaimi from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

Saturday, March 22 @ 9:00 p.m.
SONGS FOR ALEXIS
Songs for Alexis is a classic coming of age love story about two passionate teenagers stuck in American suburbia.

18-year-old Ryan is a talented musician and began his transition from girl to boy 4 years earlier. He is wildly in love with the beautiful and enigmatic 16-year-old Alexis, but her parents’ disapproval of Ryan forces her to choose between her family and an unsafe future with the man she loves.

Sunday, March 22 @ 4:00 p.m.
NEW ORLEANS YOUTH FIGHT FOR CHANGE
4-5:30 PM, Zeitgeist, FREE

EMPATHY RANGERS
USA | 2013 | 4min | Narrative
A group of teenagers decides to get involved and become the Empathy Rangers and fight against the evil ways of Dr. Apathy. A 2-Cent TV production.

RISK SERIES
USA | 2014 | 35min | Narrative Youth-created web series that follows a New Orleans youth, Kevin, through his last summer before college. Produced by the Institute for Women and Ethnic Studies.

Discussion to follow with 2-Cent and IWES.


And if you only see one film in the entire festival it must be:

Friday, March 6:00 p.m.
The Wanted 18 | Canada/France/Palestine | 2014 | 75min | Documentary

Through stop-motion animation, drawings and interviews, directors Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan recreate an astonishing true story from the First Palestinian Intifada: the Israeli army’s pursuit of eighteen cows, whose independent milk production on a Palestinian collective farm was declared “a threat to the national security of the state of Israel.”

Plus:  BDS Program with Ramah Kudaimi from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

“This documentary is hilarious.  I nearly choked to death from laughing so hard!  This is a definite must see film” - Rene Broussard, Zeitgeist founder / Director

The space seems so quiet and lonely, but that won't last long tonight is BIG CHARITY @ 7:00 pm with a Q & A with the filmmakers followed by THE THROWAWAYS @ 9:15 pm -  PATOIS: NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL - night # 2 - Friday, March 13 (that's right Friday the 13th, let's hope our luck holds up.!)

The shops, restaurants, organizations and businesses on Oretha Castle Haley are advertising on the St. Charles Streetcars for the months of April & May.  Checkout our ad and look for our neighbors ads in April.

Ok, file this under mark your calendars! I am extremely excited to announce that I have finally managed to book what is simply one of the most powerful, unique and original films I have ever seen (and I have seen a hell of a lot of films). THE TRIBE by Miroslav Slaboshpitsky (from Poland) will have a special preview screening on Monday, June 29 and then open an exclusive theatrical run at Zeitgeist on July 31. I guaranty you have never seen a film as brave a this before.

The film is in Polish sign language, with no dialog and no subtitles.  It is raw, explicit, diabolical and fucking brilliant at every turn.  This is as much of a must see film as any I have ever shown in 28 years of showing cutting edge films!  This is why Zeitgeist exist!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeYO_EoHP0k