I Went to the Dance

Oct 13, 1989

1h 24m

★ 7.5

Overview

The definitive film on the history of the toe-tapping, foot-stomping music of French Southwest Louisiana. Includes many Cajun and Zydeco greats, featuring Michael Doucet and Beausoleil, Clifton Chenier, Marc and Ann Savoy, D.L. Menard, and many others.

Genres

Documentary

Music

Production Companies

Les Blank Films

I Went to the Dance Trailers

Cast

Self

Michael Doucet

Self

Clifton Chenier

Self

Marc Savoy

Self

Ann Savoy

Self

D. L. Menard

Self

Varise Conner

Self

George Broussard

For 170 years, a Native American community has occupied Isle de Jean Charles, a tiny island deep in the bayous of Louisiana. They have fished, hunted, and lived off the land. Now the land that has sustained them for generations is vanishing before their eyes. Coastal erosion, sea level rise, and increasing storms are overwhelming the island. Over the last fifty years, Isle de Jean Charles has been gradually shrinking, and it is now almost gone. For these Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians, their land is more than simply a place to live. It is the epicenter of their people and traditions. They now must prepare to say goodbye to the place, where, for eight generations, their ancestors cultivated a unique part of Louisiana culture.

0.0

Let the Good Times Roll

Mar 17, 2018

Through the words of the poet Kirby Jambon, the filmmakers offer a playful journey to the heart of the Cajun identity in Louisiana.

7.0

Heaven Stood Still: The Incarnations of Willy DeVille

Oct 31, 2024

The life and times of the most original American singer/ songwriter of the last 50 years.

4.0

The Main Stream

Dec 17, 2002

Humorist Roy Blount Jr. takes viewers on a journey down the Mississippi River, showcasing everything from areas with spectacularly beautiful scenery to ugly and dangerously polluted stretches bordered by industrial development.

5.8

Hurricane on the Bayou

Jul 29, 2006

The film "Hurricane on the Bayou" is about the wetlands of Louisiana before and after Hurricane Katrina.

6.0

Louisiana Hayride

Jul 13, 1944

A naïve farm girl is duped by con men who promise her movie stardom in exchange for her savings.

0.0

Bad Boy of Bonsai

May 16, 2022

Bad Boy of Bonsai is an experimental art-house documentary that focuses on Guy Guidry, a Louisiana local, and his passion for bonsai.

7.0

I Am One of the People

May 16, 2022

Harmful chemicals are disproportionately affecting Black communities in Southern Louisiana along the Mississippi River. I am One of the People is an experimental short film exposing the environmental racism of “Cancer Alley.”

0.0

The Promised Land: A Swamp Pop Journey

Apr 18, 2009

Head to southern Louisiana with filmmaker Matthew Wilkinson to soak up one of the country's best-kept musical secrets: Lil' Band o' Gold, a group of seasoned musicians who churn out an eclectic blend of country, R & B and zydeco known as swamp pop. This lively documentary follows blues-rock legend C.C. Adcock as he scours the marshes and prairies of Acadiana to assemble a supergroup of diverse personalities, backgrounds and musical styles.

7.2

Birds of America

May 25, 2022

In the first half of the 19th century, the French ornithologist Jean-Jacques Audubon travelled to America to depict birdlife along the Mississippi River. Audubon was also a gifted painter. His life’s work in the form of the classic book ‘Birds of America’ is an invaluable documentation of both extinct species and an entire world of imagination. During the same period, early industrialisation and the expulsion of indigenous peoples was in full swing. The gorgeous film traces Audubon’s path around the South today. The displaced people’s descendants welcome us and retell history, while the deserted vistas of heavy industry stretch across the horizon. The magnificent, broad images in Jacques Loeuille’s atmospheric, modern adventure reminds us at the same time how little - and yet how much - is left of the nature that Audubon travelled around in. His paintings of the colourful birdlife of the South still belong to the most beautiful things you can imagine.

5.5

Acadiana

Jan 26, 2019

May 2017. As the new President of the United States takes his ease in the White House, the city of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, is the theatre of the mythic Crawfish Festival. It's just another day, in America.

0.0

A Plea for Modernism

Jan 1, 2011

Phillis Wheatley Elementary School was a significant landmark in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, serving as an important educational institution for African-American students for nearly half a century. The school was known for its innovative modern design that was unique to the region, reflecting the area’s cultural and historical roots. However, the school sustained significant damage during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in 2005. Despite the damage, the school’s unique design caught the attention of DOCOMOMO Louisiana, an organization dedicated to preserving modern architecture. They advocated for the restoration of the school through adaptive reuse, citing its historical significance and architectural importance. The organization produced this short film, “A Plea for Modernism,” narrated by actor Wendell Pierce, to raise awareness of the school’s cultural and historical value and promote its restoration.

2.0

Man in the Glass: The Dale Brown Story

May 8, 2012

Born on Halloween, 1935, Dale Brown's fight for justice began the day his father walked out - two days before he was born. About how an overachiever from tiny Minot, North Dakota relentlessly fought his way to the top.

0.0

John Kennedy Toole: The Omega Point

Jan 1, 2009

The life story of Pulitzer Prize winning author John Kennedy Toole as told by friends and colleagues. Legacy format production, representational photography and an original music score combine to bring the author's life into focus. His personal triumphs, his untimely death and the publication of the novel, 'A Confederacy of Dunces,' years after his suicide are all explored in this darkly beautiful first person narrative.

8.0

Yeah You Rite!

Jan 20, 1985

This award winning film is a fast paced, humorous look at the colorful way the residents of New Orleans express themselves - why they talk the way they do, where the words come from, and what it means to talk with a New Orleans accent.

6.7

Saving Pelican 895

Apr 1, 2011

HBO Documentary Films Presents the story of the effort to save the 895th surviving oiled pelican in Louisiana, showing how conservationists, government agencies and wildlife activists joined forces to preserve this one life.

4.5

Shelter

Jun 1, 2017

At the Covenant House, located on the outskirts of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana, the doors never close, and there is always room for one more. On any given day, a constant stream of young people carrying everything they own in plastic garbage bags fills the courtyard. The prospective residents are just teenagers, but have already been labeled drug addicts, schizophrenics, criminals and outcasts. As one staff member puts it, “the most damaged population of youth that exists in society today”. Filming over the course of a full year, brothers Brent and Craig Renaud tell the raw and emotional stories of the incredible kids who seek shelter at the Covenant House, and the staff struggling to work miracles everyday on their behalf.

0.0

Zydeco

Jan 5, 1984

Shot on location in rural Southwestern Louisiana, Zydeco combines cinema verite style footage, interviews and musical performance to present a colorful, joyful portrait of the zydeco musicians in their culture. Featuring Dolon Carriere, Armand Ardoin, and Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin. A film by Nicholas R. Spitzer. Color, 57 minutes.

7.0

Huey Long

Sep 28, 1985

Ken Burns' portrait of Louisiana governor and U.S. senator Huey Long.

5.0

All The Labor: The Story of The Gourds

Mar 13, 2013

A genre-defying band forms in Austin, covers a notorious rap tune, creates its own acclaimed roots music, and becomes a touring institution while striving to find its place in the challenging landscape of the music industry.

I Went to the Dance

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

I Went to the Dance Trailers