Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival, now in its ninth year, will open the 2014 Festival with the Louisiana Premiere of Phil Comeau’s SECRETARIAT’S JOCKEY, RON TURCOTTE, on Wednesday, January 22, 2014, at 6:30 p.m. at Acadiana Center for the Arts in downtown Lafayette. This documentary film is an extraordinary road movie that follows legendary jockey Ron Turcotte, a native of New Brunswick, Canada, and one of the few jockeys to win America’s Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. The Triple Crown in horse racing consists of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes.

Comeau, an award-winning filmmaker based in Montréal (Québec) Canada, and a native of Nova Scotia, will be a special guest at this year’s Festival and will attend the opening night screening of the film. A reception will follow the film screening with complimentary wine, appetizers and music. Tickets for the opening night gala, including film and reception, are $10 per person and will be available for purchase in January at Acadiana Center for the Arts.

The Festival will also present a retrospective of Comeau’s documentary and narrative fiction films, which will be screened throughout the Festival, including a screening on Saturday, January 25, 2014, of Comeau’s THE NATURE OF FRÉDÉRIC BACK, who was an Academy Award winning animated short filmmaker, with Academy Award winning Moonbot Studios’ newest film, THE NUMBERLYS.

Cinema on the Bayou has built an international reputation as a filmmaker friendly destination with large, enthusiastic crowds, and great food, music and fun. It has positioned itself to be unique among festivals in the United States through partnerships with the National Film Board of Canada, the Office of the French Consul General in New Orleans, the French Embassy Office of Cultural Services in New York City and the Montréal-based film distribution company, Vidéographe.

Nearly 40 films will screen at this year’s Festival, including World, U.S. and Louisiana Premieres, with over 60 film screenings and events at the following venues: Acadiana Center for the Arts, Vermilionville, the Lafayette Parish South Regional Branch Library, Pack and Paddle and Cité des Arts. Filmmakers are attending from Montréal, Moncton, Paris, New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Salt Lake City, Austin, Dallas, Shreveport, Mandeville, New Orleans, Georgia, Arkansas and Portland, Oregon.

A complete schedule of events, including film screenings, panel discussions, filmmaker receptions and live music performances, including performances by legendary rockers Bas Clas, will be posted on this web site in early January.

Major Sponsors for the 2014 Festival include IATSE Local 478 – Motion Picture Studio Mechanics of Louisiana and Southern Mississippi and the French Embassy Office of Cultural Services in New York City and the Office of Consul General of France in New Orleans.