Film Festival in Louisville, KY

The Flyover Film Festival is the signature event of the Louisville Film Society. This four-day celebration of film in Louisville will be moving around the city, showcasing our amazing network of film-friendly venues as well as our locally grown talent, and begins June 9 . . . that's today!

For films and festival passes, click here.

Wanna go for free? Tell us your favorite movie with a Louisville connection and we’ll give away a pair of passes to this weekend’s festival. Click here to post your comment.

Another Louisville?
In the independent film Another Earth, which stars Louisville native William Mapother, another earth is discovered in outer space . . . and it’s populated with duplicates of us. Which means, of course, there’s another 20,000 Friends of Lou out there. On the night of the discovery, an ambitious young student and an accomplished composer cross paths in a tragic accident. If you wonder how cool the other Louisville might be, here’s a link to the movie trailer.

Watch Out, Hollywood and Bollywood, Here Comes . . . Louiswood?
Ok, maybe not yet. But how cool is it that there are some stars in town for a film shoot? Tan Lines is a movie about Owen "Game Set" Match. He’s one of the top tennis pros in town, employed by the prestigious Fountain Club, with gimp knees and tan lines that make women swoon. Sounds like Happy Gilmore with a tennis racquet.

Click here to see a summary of the movie on set in Louisville from producer Gill Holland.

What’s a movie without its stars? Here are some people you might recognize who are in town this month for the film:

• Josh Hopkins of Cougar Town.
• Cameron Monaghan of Showtime’s Shameless.
• Alexie Gilmore of Surfer Dude.
• Billy Magnussen and Dash Mihok of The Day After Tomorrow.
• Kevin Sussman of The Big Bang Theory and Ugly Betty.
• Guillermo Diaz of Weeds and Mercy.
• Sam McMurray of Raising Arizona and The Tracey Ullman Show.

It’s a Wrap
Although being a Friend of Lou makes you a star in our books, what about hanging out with some?

Ten lucky Friends of Lou will get:

• A signed Festival poster by William Mapother.
• A CD from a sonaBLAST! Records artist.
• To be an extra in the film Tan Line. Filming will be in Louisville on the afternoon / evening of June 20.

To enter, sign up 10 Friends of Lou. Tell your Facebook friends. Tweet to your peeps. Make sure you tell them to enter your name in the field “Name of person who sent you.” The 10 winners will be contacted next week with the details. Here’s the link to send these soon-to-be FOLs: http://www.friendoflou.com/become-a-friend.

And may the best Friend of Lou win.

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Humana Festival of New American Plays 2010

The 34th annual HUMANA FESTIVAL OF NEW AMERICAN PLAYS is in full swing in Louisville, Kentucky

February 21-March 28, 2010

Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival of New American Plays is an annual site of pilgrimage where theatre lovers from around the world converge to get the first look at the future of the American theatre. More than 400 plays have been produced in the internationally acclaimed Humana Festival, representing the work of more than 200 playwrights.

List of Plays

Sirens by Deborah Zoe Lauferdirected by Casey StanglFebruary 21 - March 28

Fissures (lost and found) by Steve Epp, Cory Hinkle, Dominic Orlando, Dominique Serrand, Deborah Stein and Victoria Stewartdirected by Dominique SerrandFebruary 26 - March 28

Phoenix by Scott Organdirected by Aaron PosnerMarch 5 - 27

Ground by Lisa Dillmandirected by Marc Masterson March 2 - 28

The Method Gun by Kirk Lynndirected by Shawn Sidescreated and performed by Rude MechsMarch 16 - March 28

The Cherry Sisters Revisited by Dan O'Brienoriginal music by Michael Friedmandirected by Andrew Leynse March 18 - April 11part of the Brown-Forman Series

Heist! conceived and created by Sean Daniels and Deborah Steinwritten by Deborah Steindirected by Sean Daniels with animation by Adam Pinney in collaboration wih René Dellefont performed by the 2009-2010 Actors Theatre Acting Apprentice Company March 11 - 28 performances at 21c Museum Hotel, 700 W Main St

TEN-MINUTE PLAYS March 27 & 28

Let Bygones Beby Gamal Abdel Chasten

Lobster Boyby Dan Dietz

Post Wave Spectacular by Diana Grisanti

An Examination of the Whole Playwright/Actor Relationship Presented As Some Kind of Cop Show Parody

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Surviving the family road trip: Base yourself in Louisville

This year, all of us are going to have to come up with some creative ideas for summer travel. The economy is still in a slump, but the kids are out of school, they've worked hard all year and, hopefully have gotten passing grades! They really deserve a break. One of the most painless ways for folks to take the kids along on vacation is to take a car trip. You can stop along the way, they sleep in the back seat, play video games, and listen to music with ear-phones on. They can eat snacks and drink beverages in the car and even take fido along. Most dogs love to travel with the family. And, it's a lot cheaper that airflight.

There are many cities in the US that make good central locations for a week-end or week-long getaway. And the choices in accommodations are better than ever. Nearby state parks offer both cabins and lodges in beautiful woodland settings, farms or ranches are great places for kids, and if you want to include some city life, a bed and breakfast is ideal.

Our national parks are astounding. Most people don’t realize that many state parks have lodges and cabins that you can rent. In South Dakota, you can rent a rustic cabin — there’s A/C but no bathroom — that sleeps four for $35 a night, or a lodge that sleeps eight for $150 (800/710-2267, sdparks.info) . In West Virginia, you can rent a modern cabin that sleeps four for under $100 a night (304/558-2764, wvstateparks.com).

In Kentucky, Cumberland Falls offers beautiful affordable accommodations (http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/resortparks/cf/). Besides relatively cheap lodging, you get inexpensive activities like hiking, fishing, kayaking, biking, etc. Some even have golf courses! Plus, the rangers usually lead programs and activities designed for children.

Farmstays are B&Bs or working farms, where you help ocan out as much as you like, or just explore the area. This trend first took off in Italy, where they’re called agriturismi. A room that sleeps four usually goes for around $100 — and that includes farm-related activities and breakfast. You can help gather eggs or feed sheep at Leaping Lamb Farm Stay in Alsea, Ore. The daily cost for a family of four starts at $125 — and the seventh night is free (877/820-6132, leapinglambfarm.com). A week at the Herds Inn at Hedgebrook Farm in Virginia is $750 (866/783-2681, theherdsinn.com). Working Cows Dairy is a farm near Dothan, Ala., that rents a cottage that sleeps six for $300 per week (334/886-3839, workingcowsdairy.com).

Some states have farm associations — including Pennsylvania (888/856-6622, pafarmstay.com) and Vermont (866/348-3276, vtfarms.org) making it easy to locate farmstays. Other states such as California (805/238-3799, agadventures.org) maintain agritourism sites where you can find farms that rent rooms or welcome day visitors. And you can always just Google your state’s name and the phrase “farm stay.” Most of Kentucky's farmstays are B&Bs and are associated with the Bed and Breakfast Association of Kentucky (http://www.kentuckybb.com/).

Bed and Breakfasts are ideal for combining what a city has to offer with the surrounding area. You can situate yourself in a beautiful Inn for a week and take day trips to small villages, farms, lake, beaches or whatever you like. A city like Louisville, in Kentucky, is perfect. It has all of the above, plus outstanding restaurants, museums, theater and many attractions. There are a whole host of events and festivals going on all summer, from the Shakespeare Festivals in Old Louisville's Central Park to My Old Kentucky home pageants to the Kentucky State Fair.

An advantage of staying in Louisville is that it is very accessible from other states; such as Illinois Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Iowa and Arkansas, etc. The innerstate highway system is amazing and easily leads right into downtown Louisville. Another advantage is that Louisville has aproximately 18-20 awesome bed and breakfasts (www.lbba.com), most centrally located.

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Humana Festival still in full swing until April 26th

The Humana Festival, of new American plays, is still amazing and entertaining audiences in Louisville. The festival, which runs every year for six weeks, will be here until April 11. Seven plays and several 10-minute plays are still running. One of the favorites will be extended until April 26th at the Pamela Brown Auditorium and is reviewed below:

WILD BLESSINGS: A CELEBRATION OF

WENDELL BERRY
adapted for the stage by Marc Masterson and Adrien-Alice Hansel
from the writing of Wendell Berry
directed by Marc Masterson

Mar 26 - Apr 26, 2009
in the Pamela Brown Auditorium

See the Complete Humana Festival Performance Schedule

Wild Blessings is An exploration of the earth, its citizens and the impact of each on the other. This world premiere brings the works of nationally acclaimed poet, novelist and ecological visionary Wendell Berry to the stage in a celebration of words, music and a life well lived.

WENDELL BERRY was born in Henry County, Ky. He has taught at Georgetown College, Stanford University, New York University and University of Kentucky, his alma mater. The author of over forty books of poetry, essays and fiction, Mr. Berry has received numerous fellowships and awards. He lives and works with his wife, Tanya Berry, on their farm in Port Royal, Ky.

Wild Blessings: A Celebration of Wendell Berry, is a theater piece of Berry's poetry written by Marc Masterson and Adrien- Alice Hansel, after extensive reading and research on Berry's volumes of stories, essays and poetry. The play is not a biographical look at the poet and no actor plays Berry. It is composed of 36 poems, beginning with "Manifesto: The mad Farmer's Liberation Front" and concludes with "The Contrariness of the Mad Farmer" and "The Rising."



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