‘Beasts Of The Southern Wild’ Gets Major Oscar Buzz

Beasts Of The Southern Wild has been making a killing on the festival circuit. The film tells the story of a little girl living with her ailing father in a mythical New Orleans-type setting called The Bathtub. As imaginative as it is epic (the story actually begins before the Katrina-like storm hits), Beasts… recently won The Camera d’Or (for Best First Feature) at the Cannes Film Festival and also received the Sundance 2012 Grand Jury Prize, along with the award for Excellence in Cinematography. And now, everyone is screaming Oscar for the film itself (i.e. Best Picture) and for the tiny little girl playing the lead, Quvenzhané Wallis. Inside, glimpse into the bayou of BOTSW with the trailer, photos, and more.

In a forgotten but defiant bayou community cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee, a six-year-old girl exists on the brink of orphanhood. Buoyed by her childish optimism and extraordinary imagination, she believes that the natural world is in balance with the universe until a fierce storm changes her reality. Desperate to repair the structure of her world in order to save her ailing father and sinking home, this tiny hero must learn to survive unstoppable catastrophes of epic proportions.

–Fox Searchlight

Beasts Of The Southern Wild Official Trailer

There’s a certain authenticity that bursts through, even in the trailer. I think it’s one of those things where the actors– being talented, but unknown– really work for the piece. The other thing that excites me is that, when I watch the trailer and when I look at the stills, the film does not remind me of anything I’ve seen before. There are lots of movies where a little girl drives the plot (like Little Miss Sunshine or Whale Rider) but this seems very different.

 

Quvenzhané Wallis at Cannes 2012
The director Ben Zeitlin had some really interesting things to say about filmmaking in this article. He’s very much about allowing the film to be fluid, to keep changing even after the script has been written. So the little girl (Quvenzhané) became an influence over her character, Hushpuppy. As the filmmakers got to know the actor, the character changed, and this was true for the other characters as well. This, among other approaches, sounds really different and Zeitlin‘s unique directorial theories may be what helped BOTSW win over film fest audiences everywhere. I’m dying to see how it all goes down on or around June 27.

Watch a featurette of BOTSW here.
Visit the movie’s official site, Facebook, or tumblr.
Watch Zeitlin‘s short films (Egg and Glory At Sea) here.
Check out more stills from Beasts Of The Southern Wild below

Waters gonna rise, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin’ under, in this tale of a six year-old named Hushpuppy who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world.

– BOTSW

Zeitlin smiles at the memory of the early days down the bayou. “We call it research and development, but it was actually more like a giant party,” he say. “It’s a neat trick — my work is just finding the most interesting people I can, and then coming up with an excuse to get drunk on boats with them. It’s great fun.”

–Best Of New Orleans

“I think if there was a wave of young New Orleans filmmakers, it would just shatter the universe,” Zeitlin says. “It would be so crazy. I’m not even from here — imagine people who are from here making these kinds of movies. It would be the wildest thing ever.”

—-Best Of New Orleans

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