Much to our delight, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD has taken this tiny cinematic enclave in the middle of Mormonia by storm, so to speak. Volunteers loved it, then premierers loved it, then reviewers loved it, then Salt Lakers loved it — and Sundancers continue to love it. Turns out that people actually understand and vibe on this crazy thing we’ve been doing for the last 3 years! What’s most cool about this is that it means people across the country will have a chance to see it as well.

What to do as you wait for that? Check out the swank new site and join the beast army.

After 3 years toiling away trying to slay this giant, Court 13′s first feature film, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” will be premiering at the SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL IN JANUARY!!!

Read all about it here.

That’s right, we’re heading to the big dance. Thanks to all the loyal Court jesters out there, who have been following us since our conception! Park City may be far away, but we wouldn’t have even made it past Kenner without you.

Keep your digital excitement alive, and follow the new movie on facebook and twitter. Or, just keep talking real nice about us to your friends and family.

Come out to see the Court 13 short “Devin’s Ward” at its premiere at the New Orleans Film Festival this weekend! Made on a shoestring budget, that became more of a bootstring budget when all the footage was nearly lost on a bunk hard drive and had to be recovered by emergency room technicians, this micro-slice of life stars Court 13 regulars Dwight Henry, Nicholas Clark, Jovan Hathaway, Levy Easterly, and newcomer Andrae Noel. The crew was a full Court press – Michael Gottwald as director, Casey Coleman as producer, Bob Weisz and Sophie Kosofsky on art direction, Alana Ackerman and Derek Ustruck as best supporting jammers. Post production supervisor: Crockett Doob. Godfathers: Josh Penn, Benhas Zeitlin, Dan Janvey. Bill Ross plays “Man drinking a tall boy in a bakery.”

“DEVIN’S WARD”

Sunday Oct. 16 // 2:10 PM // the Prytania Theatre

Monday Oct. 17 // 5:25 PM // Canal Place

They also give out awards — and Court 13′s video for Big Freedia’s “Y’all Get Back Now” is nominated for something called an O Music Award, which, like, grades stuff that lives on the internet. Categories include “Must Follow Artist on Twitter” and “Best Vintage Viral Video”; we’re nominated for “Too Much Ass for TV,” which is hard to argue with.

ANYWAY, a whole lot of people do tune in, or stream in, or whatever, to see the awards show online, and winners are totally based on votes by fans. So please, take a moment to vote for our video. Big Freedia would appreciate it.

“BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD” has once again captured the generosity of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and the San Francisco Film Society, who have bestowed upon us a post-production grant to the tune of $55,000!

Read more here. Thanks, Franciscans!!

And if the Saegner holds true to what its marquee currently says (“Re-opening 2011″), we could have two hell of nice venues for cinema–or at least Richard Pryor stand-up shows–back in business in the near future.

If Court 13 ever commandeers these spaces for any big event, hear us now: we exclusively invite you. All of you.

More on the event here. More about Josh Ente here.

“The drive-in screening of Dr. Strangelove has been rescheduled for next Saturday, July 23. It will take place in the same scheduled location: the parking lot of the First Schwegmann’s Giant Super Market at the corner of St. Claude and Elysian Fields.”

When: Friday, July 15 – Doors at 7:00, films at 8:30
Where: In the parking lot of the First Schwegmann’s Giant Super Market at the corner of St. Claude and Elysian Fields in the Marigny.

Admission to the event is free; w a suggested $5 donation.

There will be food trucks and vendors (including beer) on site.

To help his students make sense of this, a professor at LSU recently framed the news using the Court’s seminal film–“Glory at Sea”–to question how nature and religion are imagined in Southern culture. He even went ahead and connected it to titans of other mediums. He begins his blog post by quoting the character Reverend Carlton–”Look out at that ocean, that sky, the fish, the birds, wild and wicked out in the chaos. Is there a god that can deliver us from the chaos of nature?”–before having this to say:

From my perspective, “Glory at Sea” is a film about religion. It is about living in a broken world, seeking order in chaos, and finding meaning in suffering. It is about a people in exile, a people lost at sea, a people without a home. Recently, students in my “Religion in Louisiana” course watched the film and wrote an essay relating its themes to several other books about life in Louisiana and the Mississippi River Delta, including Brenda Marie Osbey’s collection of poems “All Saints,” Tennessee Williams’ play Vieux Carré,” and William Alexander Percy’s autobiography “Lanterns on the Levee”…

Our thoughts go out to those along the river who have lost something vast to nature this time. May they find some sort of meaning in the suffering.